cartoon

noun

car·​toon kär-ˈtün 

often attributive

1

: a preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco)

2

a

: a drawing intended as satire, caricature, or humor

a political cartoon

b

: comic strip

3

: animated cartoon

4

: a ludicrously simplistic, unrealistic, or one-dimensional portrayal or version

the film's villain is an entertaining cartoon

cartoon verb

cartooning

kär-ˈtü-niŋ 

noun

cartoonish

kär-ˈtü-nish 

adjective

cartoonishly adverb

cartoonist

kär-ˈtü-nist 

noun

cartoonlike

kär-ˈtün-ˌlīk 

adjective

cartoony

kär-ˈtü-nē 

adjective

Synonyms

• delineation
• drawing
• sketch

Examples of cartoon in a Sentence

She enjoys reading the cartoons in the Sunday paper.

The kids are watching cartoons.

Recent Examples on the Web

Inside Riley’s mind, cartoon characters from Riley’s childhood Bloofy and Pouchy appear, hidden deep in Riley’s vault of secrets. —Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 22 June 2024

The cartoon was first announced in August 2022, and greenlit by MTV Entertainment Studios to run on Paramount+ and Comedy Central. —Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 18 June 2024

Among the favorites is a create-your-own Dagwood option, named after the Dagwood Bumstead cartoon character’s enormous sandwich creations. —Michael Burgess, Charlotte Observer, 18 June 2024

The prompt is sent to OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, which the underlying code requests as being generated in a cartoon style to produce a simplified image that’s 1024 x 1024 pixels in size. —Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 17 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Italian cartone pasteboard, cartoon, augmentative of carta leaf of paper — more at card entry 1

First Known Use

1671, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing cartoon

• animated cartoon
• strip cartoon

Kids Definition

cartoon

noun

car·​toon kär-ˈtün 

1

: a design, drawing, or painting made as a model for the finished work

2

a

: a drawing intended as a humorous comment on public affairs

b

: comic strip

3

: animated cartoon

cartoonist

-ˈtü-nəst 

noun

Etymology

from Italian cartone "pasteboard, a sketch of a planned drawing or painting done on heavy paper," from carta "sheet of paper," from Latin charta "piece of papyrus" — related to card entry 3, carton