The clown at your kid’s birthday party, Broadway shows, stadium rock concerts, your friends fighting over the last potato chip—entertainment is any amusement or distraction, especially one that involves a performance. The word is related to the Latin entretenir, which means “hold inside.” That’s how it came to be associated with hospitality, and later became a synonym for amusement and distraction.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of entertaiment.

This article was originally published in April, 2019. It has been updated for freshness, clarity and style.
This article has been adapted from a piece that first appeared in the New York Times.