cinema

Borrowed from French cinéma, clipping of cinématographe (term coined by the Lumière brothers in the 1890s), from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write, record”). Compare German Kino (“cinema”), ultimately from the same Greek source.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪn.ə.mə/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪn.ɪ.mə/, /ˈsɪn.ɪ.mɑː/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ci‧ne‧ma

cinema (countable and uncountable, plural cinemas)

2. (countable) A movie theatre, a movie house.

   Synonyms: (UK) pictures, (chiefly US) moviehouse, movies, (chiefly US) movie theater, (rare) movie theatre

   The cinema is right across the street from the restaurant.

3. (film, uncountable) Films collectively.

   Despite the critics, he produced excellent cinema.

4. (film, uncountable) The film and movie industry.

   In the long history of Spanish cinema […] .

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

6. (film, countable, uncountable) The art of making films and movies; cinematography.

   Synonym: seventh art

   Throughout the history of cinema, filmmakers […] .

   • 2005, Tom O'Regan, Australian National Cinema, page 79:

     The French and Italian cinemas can seem to persist autonomously—in the sense of being spaces of separate development and marked difference from Hollywood and other national cinemas.

7. (Internet slang, uncountable) A sophisticated or exemplary film, representative of the art of cinema.

   Synonym: kino

   1. (by extension, humorous) Any media or event that is exemplary.

      That game was absolute cinema.

• → Bengali: সিনেমা (śinema)
• → Gujarati: સિનેમા (sinemā)
• → Hindi: सिनेमा (sinemā)
• → Irish: cineama
• → Kannada: ಸಿನಮಾ (sinamā)
• → Lao: ຊິເນມາ (si nē mā)
• → Malayalam: സിനിമ (sinima)
• → Punjabi: ਸਿਨਮਾ (sinmā)
• → Sinhalese: සිනමාහල (sinamāhala)
• → Tamil: சினிமா (ciṉimā)
• → Telugu: సినిమా (sinimā), సైన్మ (sainma), సీన్మ (sīnma) — Telangana
• → Urdu: سِنیما (sinemā)
• → Welsh: sinema
• → Yoruba: sinimá

• Mencia, anemic, came in, iceman

• IPA^(key): (Central) [siˈnɛ.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [siˈne.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [siˈne.ma]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

cinema m (plural cinemes)

1. cinema

• cinematògraf
• cinematografia

Borrowed from English cinema, itself borrowed from French cinéma, from cinématographe, from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write, record”).

cinema m (plural cinemas)

1. cinema

   Synonym: gwaya mirva

• “cinema” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.

Borrowed from French cinéma, ultimately from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”).

• Hyphenation: ci‧ne‧ma

cinema m (plural cinema's, diminutive cinemaatje n)

1. cinema; movie theater (building where films are shown to an audience)
2. (uncountable) cinema (the art or industry of making films)

Borrowed from French cinéma, from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.ne.ma/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -inema
• Hyphenation: cì‧ne‧ma

cinema m (invariable)

1. (art and industry) cinema

   Il cinema è una lingua universale.   —Pier Paolo Pasolini

   Cinema is a universal language.

2. (movie theatre) cinema, movie theater, film theatre

   Synonyms: cinematografo, sala cinematografica

• teatro

• macine, minace, nemica

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kiːˈneː.ma]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃiˈnɛː.ma]

cīnēma n (genitive cīnēmatis); third declension

1. (New Latin) cinema

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Borrowed from French cinéma, reduction of cinématographe, ultimately from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”).

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -emɐ
• Homophone: sinema
• Hyphenation: ci‧ne‧ma

cinema m (plural cinemas)

1. cinema; movie theater (building where films are shown to an audience)
2. (uncountable) cinema (the art or industry of making films)

   Synonym: cinematografia

3. cinema (films from a particular place or of a particular style as a group)

• → Hunsrik: Cinema

• “cinema”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “cinema”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “cinema”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French cinéma.

cinema n (plural cinemauri)

1. cinema

• IPA^(key): /θiˈnema/ [θiˈne.ma] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /siˈnema/ [siˈne.ma] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ema
• Syllabification: ci‧ne‧ma

Reduction of cinematógrafo.

cinema m (plural cinemas)

1. cinema; movie theater (building where films are shown to an audience)

   Synonym: cine

2. cinema (the art or industry of making films)

   Synonym: cine

Reduction of cinemática.

cinema f (plural cinemas)

1. (physics) kinematics

   Synonym: cinemática

cinema (invariable)

1. (physics) related to movement

   Synonym: cinemática

• “cinema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “cinema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025