Article

From escapism to education, from catharsis to cerebral engagement, entertainment serves a multitude of purposes. It can act as a mood enhancer, and the feeling of upliftment that it provides is an effective stress buster. It can also be a form of emotional cleansing, as is the case with art forms like music and film. It can be as simple as reading a book or playing a video game, or it may be something more elaborate such as attending a ceremony, celebration, or religious festival.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘entertainment.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.