cartoon
Americannoun
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a sketch or drawing, usually humorous, as in a newspaper or periodical, symbolizing, satirizing, or caricaturing some action, subject, or person of popular interest.
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Fine Arts. a full-scale design for a picture, ornamental motif or pattern, or the like, to be transferred to a fresco, tapestry, etc.
adjective
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a humorous or satirical drawing, esp one in a newspaper or magazine, concerning a topical event
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Also called: comic strip. a sequence of drawings in a newspaper, magazine, etc, relating a comic or adventurous situation
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See animated cartoon
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a full-size preparatory sketch for a fresco, tapestry, mosaic, etc, from which the final work is traced or copied
Other Word Forms
- cartoonish adjective
- cartoonist noun
- uncartooned adjective
Etymology
Origin of cartoon
First recorded in 1665–75; from Italian cartone “pasteboard, stout paper, a drawing on such paper,” equivalent to cart(a) “paper” ( carte ) + -one augmentative suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The news-reading public used spirit gossip, spirit cartoons, and spirit love stories as distractions from the realization that there seemed to be no peaceful way forward on the increasingly heated issue of slavery’s expansion.
From Literature
They’re cartoons with real relationships, full of devilish takes on media and pop and consumer culture, with jokes that twist in the air like an Olympic ski jumper before landing on their feet going backward.
From Los Angeles Times
But the characters are expressive, and the medium is used to unreal ends, which is, after all, what cartoons are good for.
From Los Angeles Times
“Apartment Window” is nearly abstract, sandwiching a constellation of peeling, sun-bleached cartoon stickers between a reflected sunset and the stripes of vertical blinds.
From Los Angeles Times
Disney's lawyers accused ByteDance of committing a "virtual smash-and-grab" of their intellectual property, including superheroes from Marvel, Star Wars and various cartoons.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
