Entertaining is the act of providing amusement or enjoyment. It can be achieved through a variety of means, such as movies, music, sports and art. Entertainment also encompasses games, social interactions, food and drink. It is a form of leisure and is often viewed as an activity that provides pleasure and an escape from everyday life. According to Bates and Ferri (2010), entertainment can be defined objectively as any consumer activity that involves communication between text and audience from an external stimulus, offers pleasure, requires an audience to exist and occurs in a passive form.
From late 15c., “to keep up, support” (with inter-, from Latin inter- “inside” + tenir “to hold, stretch out”; see ten), probably originally with the sense of gratify, delight.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘Entertaiment.’ They may not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.