cinema

cinema — noun

1. a building with a large white screen where visitors pay to see films shown to th

1.nounA2
Definition

a building with a large white screen where visitors pay to see films shown to the public

Example

The new cinema downtown has eight screens and a small café.

Aiko bought two tickets at the cinema for the Saturday show.

at the cinema to buy tickets for a specific event

Common collocations
  • local cinema
  • multiplex cinema
  • cinema screen
  • cinema ticket
  • independent cinema
  • art-house cinema
Synonyms
  • movie theater

    the standard American English term for this sense

  • multiplex

    a large cinema with many screens, often part of a chain

  • film house

    a more formal or literary term, sometimes used for art-house cinemas

Grammar Patterns

at the cinema

to the cinema

cinema + singular/plural verb

Usage Note

In American English, movie theater is more common than cinema for this sense. Speakers of British English use cinema for both the building and the activity.

Common Mistakes

Let us go to cinema tomorrow.
Let us go to the cinema tomorrow.
Cinema needs an article (the/a) when referring to the building.

2. the social custom of watching films at a movie theatre, often done regularly wit

2.nounB1
Definition

the social custom of watching films at a movie theatre, often done regularly with friends or family as a shared leisure activity

Example

Friday night is cinema night for the Huang family.

Yara and her cousins enjoy going to the cinema every weekend.

go to the cinema on a regular basis

Common collocations
  • go to the cinema
  • at the cinema
  • an evening at the cinema
  • a trip to the cinema
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

go to the cinema

at the cinema

Usage Note

Most common in British English. The fixed phrase go to the cinema (not go to cinema) is the standard way to express this activity. The American equivalent is go to the movies.

Common Mistakes

I love cinema every weekend.
I love going to the cinema every weekend.
The activity sense requires the full phrase go to the cinema or the verb form visiting the cinema.

3. the art, business, and cultural world of making films, looked at as a whole rath

3.nounC1
Definition

the art, business, and cultural world of making films, looked at as a whole rather than as single works

Example

The cinema of Taiwan has won many awards at international film festivals.

[country] + cinema to mean a national film culture

Leila studied French cinema at university and later became a film director.

Common collocations
  • world cinema
  • French cinema
  • cinema industry
  • cinema studies
  • digital cinema
  • contemporary cinema
  • independent cinema
Synonyms
  • film

    the most common synonym; film is used more in academic or artistic contexts (film studies, film theory)

  • motion pictures

    a formal or old-fashioned term, especially in American English

  • the big screen

    an informal, metaphorical phrase, as in her debut on the big screen

Grammar Patterns

[nationality] + cinema

cinema + [noun]

world cinema

Usage Note

Frequently used with a country name (French cinema, Japanese cinema) or a describing word (world cinema, independent cinema, early cinema) to refer to the film culture of a particular place, time, or type.

Common Mistakes

Cinema industry is growing fast.
The cinema industry is growing fast.
This sense is uncountable but still requires the definite article when referring to the industry as a specific concept.

Word family

  • cinematic
    adjectiveB2
  • cinematography
    nounC1
  • cinematographer
    nounC1
  • cinephile
    nounC1
  • cinema-goer
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Cinema and movie theater both refer to a building where films are shown, but they differ by region: cinema is the usual word in British English and many other English-speaking countries, while movie theater is standard in the United States. A multiplex is a specific type of cinema with many screens under one roof, usually part of a large commercial chain such as AMC or Odeon. A film house (or picture house) is a more literary or old-fashioned term that often suggests a smaller, independent venue showing art films or classics rather than mainstream blockbusters. For example: 'We walked to the local cinema to see the new documentary' (BrE) vs. 'We drove to the movie theater on the edge of town' (AmE). 'That art-house film house only shows subtitled foreign films.'

movie theatermultiplex ↗film housepicture house

Common collocations

Nouns

  • cinema screen
  • cinema ticket
  • cinema industry
  • cinema audience

Phrases

  • go to the cinema
  • cinema-goer

Prepositions

  • at the cinema
  • to the cinema

Etymology

GreekFrenchEnglish

Cinema is a shortened form of cinematograph, from the French word cinématographe coined by the Lumière brothers in the 1890s for their film projector and camera. The French term combines the Greek root kinēma (movement) and graphein (to write), literally meaning 'writing movement.' English speakers shortened it to cinema in the early 1900s, and the word spread quickly as the new medium grew in popularity.