Entertaiment is the term that encompasses a wide range of activities. It may be as simple as choosing a private entertainment from the now enormous range of pre-recorded products; it may involve an elaborate banquet for two; or it could be a performance intended for thousands. Often the word is associated with amusement, although many entertainments have a serious purpose such as ceremony, celebration, religious festival or satire for example.

Bates and Ferri (2010) define entertain ment as an activity that is understood objectively, involves communication between text and audience from an external stimulus, offers pleasure, requires an audience to exist and occurs in a passive form.