A thing affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind: a ball or other elaborate entertainment.
Entertainment is a word that has evolved along with its media to adapt to nearly any scale: from an individual selecting and watching his or her personal entertainment on a device; to banquets and parties adapted to any number of guests; to performances intended for a wide audience. But while the experience of entertainment may be largely a matter of amusement, it can also be an important source of insight and even education. The word is derived from the Medieval Latin intertenere, from the prefix inter meaning “inside” and the suffix tenere, from the Indo-European root ten, meaning to stretch or extend.
Article programmatically compiled by Merriam-Webster from online sources.
