Entertainment.
Synonyms:
| amusement, | diversion, | fun, | pleasure, |
| cheer, | enjoyment, | merriment, | recreation, |
| delight, | frolic, | pastime, | sport. |
Entertainment and recreation imply thought and mental occupation, tho in an agreeable, refreshing way; they are therefore words of a high order. Entertainment, apart from its special senses of a public performance or a social party, and predominantly even there, is used of somewhat mirthful mental delight; recreation may, and usually does, combine the mental with the physical. Amusement and pastime are nearly equivalent, the latter probably the lighter word; many slight things may be pastimes which we should hardly dignify by the name of amusements. Sports are almost wholly on the physical plane, tho involving a certain grade of mental action; fox-hunting, horse-racing, and baseball are sports. Certain sports may afford entertainment or recreation to certain persons, according to their individual tastes; but entertainment and recreation are capable of a meaning so high as never to be approached by any meaning of sport. Cheer may be very quiet, as the cheer of a bright fire to an aged traveler; merriment is with liveliness and laughter; fun and frolic are apt to be boisterous. Amusement is a form of enjoyment, but enjoyment may be too keen to be called amusement. Compare synonyms for ENTERTAIN.
Antonyms:
ennui, fatigue, labor, lassitude, toil, weariness, work.