Word.ws English Dictionary

cartoon

UK/kɑːˈtuːn//kɑɹˈtun/

cartoon noun: a humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.

cartoon: a humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings
Image: Leonard Raven-Hill, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cartoon (plural cartoons)

  1. A humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.
  2. A drawing satirising current public figures.
    • The newspaper published a political cartoon mocking the mayor.
  3. An artist's preliminary sketch.
  4. A full-sized drawing that serves as the template for a fresco, a tapestry, etc.
  5. (animation) An animated piece of film which is often but not exclusively humorous.
    • The children watched a funny cartoon on TV.
  6. (animation) A cartoon series.
    • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
      The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV...
  7. A diagram in a scientific concept.

Verb

cartoon (third-person singular simple present cartoons, present participle cartooning, simple past and past participle cartooned)

  1. (animation) To draw a cartoon, a humorous drawing.
  2. To make a preliminary sketch.

cartoon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

cartoon in Hindi

cartoon
कार्टून kārṭūn

cartoon in Tamil

கேலிச்சித்திரம், அரசியல் வசைக்கேலிச் சித்திரம், வசைக்கேலிப்படம் வரை, கேலிப்படம் வரைந்து ஏளனத்துக்குள்ளாக்கு

cartoon in Urdu

cartoon
کارٹون kārṭūn

cartoon in Bengali

রঙ্গচিত্র, নকশা, ব্যঙ্গাত্মক চিত্র
More languagesFewer languages
cartoon in Telugu
కార్టూన్, వ్యంగ్యచిత్రం
cartoon in Malayalam
കാർട്ടൂൻ kāṟṭṭūṉ
cartoon in Kannada
ಅಲ್ಲಣಿತಿಟ್ಟ, ಚಲ್ಲತಿಟ್ಟ, ಹಾಸ್ಯಚಿತ್ರ, ವಿಡಂಬನಚಿತ್ರ
cartoon in Punjabi
ਕਾਰਟੂਨ, ਕਾਰਟੂੰਨ
cartoon in Odia
କାର୍ଟୁନ, କାର୍ଟୁନ୍, କାର୍ଟୂନ୍
cartoon in Nepali
कार्टुन, कार्टून
cartoon in Tagalog
tawo-tawo
cartoon in Arabic
كَارِيكَاتِير karikatīr, كَارِيكَاتُور karikatūr, رَسْم هَزْلِيّ rasm hazliyy
cartoon in Thai
การ์ตูน gaa-dtuun
cartoon in Vietnamese
tranh biếm hoạ

Examples of cartoon in a sentence

  • Despite what some cartoons portray, no humans were around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
  • It is sheer coincidence that the cartoon resembles the local politician.
  • The political cartoon showed the politician as a caveman, clubbing the budget depicted as a mammoth.

All 40 example sentences with cartoon

Synonyms of cartoon

All synonyms of cartoon

Forms of cartoon

Noun
pluralcartoons
Verb
third-person singular presentcartoons
present participlecartooning
past participlecartooned
pastcartooned

Plural of cartoon: cartoons

Origin of cartoon

In British English first, from French carton (“sketch, cardboard, card”), from Italian cartone (“cardboard, carton, box”), augmentative of carta (“paper”), from Latin carta (“papyrus, paper”), from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs) (see there for further etymology). Doublet of carton and card.

Words formed from cartoon

Phrases with cartoon

Words that rhyme with cartoon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cartoon

What does cartoon mean?
Cartoon means a humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.
What is cartoon in Hindi?
Cartoon in Hindi is कार्टून (kārṭūn). See Cartoon meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is cartoon?
Cartoon can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce cartoon?
Cartoon is pronounced /kɑːˈtuːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of cartoon?
The plural of cartoon is cartoons.

Words near cartoon in the dictionary

  1. cartonnages
  2. cartonnier
  3. cartonniers
  4. cartons
  5. cartonsful
  6. cartoon
  7. cartoon character
  8. cartoon characters
  9. cartoon physics
  10. cartooned
  11. cartooner

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cartoon (page history and authors); कार्टून (Hindi) (page history and authors); cartoon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); کارٹون (Urdu) (page history and authors); cartoon (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cartoon (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); കാർട്ടൂൻ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); cartoon (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cartoon (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cartoon (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cartoon (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cartoon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cartoon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cartoon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.