cartoon

[kahr-toon] /kɑrˈtun/
noun
1.
a sketch or drawing, usually humorous, as in a newspaper or periodical, symbolizing, satirizing, or caricaturing some action, subject, or person of popular interest.
2.
comic strip.
3.
animated cartoon.
4.
Fine Arts. a full-scale design for a picture, ornamental motif or pattern, or the like, to be transferred to a fresco, tapestry, etc.
adjective
5.
resembling a cartoon or caricature:
The novel is full of predictable, cartoon characters, never believable as real people.
verb (used with object)
6.
to represent by a cartoon.
verb (used without object)
7.
to draw cartoons.
Origin
1665-75; < Italian cartone pasteboard, stout paper, a drawing on such paper, equivalent to cart(a) paper (see carte) + -one augmentative suffix
Related forms
cartoonish, adjective
cartoonist, noun
uncartooned, adjective
Can be confused
burlesque, caricature, cartoon, parody, satire (see synonym study at burlesque; see synonym study at satire)
carton, cartoon.
Examples from the web for cartoon
  • If you can picture a cartoon whale, they have a big head and they stand there and smile.
  • Perceived personality is what is in an imaginary friend, a cartoon or movie character, or a robot.
  • They were essentially part of the same cartoon family and all those characters were fabulous.
  • Kids think foods taste better if the products have cartoon characters on the packaging, a new study shows.
  • So a second theory has been proposed: the cartoon crisis.
  • The perfect end-of-year post would be a final installment about the perfect cartoon.
  • One reader took exception to my choice of the perfect cartoon.
  • In the cartoon world she creates, pictures function less as illustration than as records of action, a kind of visual journalism.
  • Now, it's okay to watch television of a moron cartoon character forever.
  • The movie is a cartoon with real live people playing the parts of animated characters.
British Dictionary definitions for cartoon

cartoon

/kɑːˈtuːn/
noun
1.
a humorous or satirical drawing, esp one in a newspaper or magazine, concerning a topical event
2.
Also called comic strip. a sequence of drawings in a newspaper, magazine, etc, relating a comic or adventurous situation
3.
See animated cartoon
4.
a full-size preparatory sketch for a fresco, tapestry, mosaic, etc, from which the final work is traced or copied
Derived Forms
cartoonist, noun
Word Origin
C17: from Italian cartone pasteboard, sketch on stiff paper; see carton
Word Origin and History for cartoon
n.

1670s, "a drawing on strong paper (used as a model for another work)," from French carton, from Italian cartone "strong, heavy paper, pasteboard," thus "preliminary sketches made by artists on such paper" (see carton). Extension to comical drawings in newspapers and magazines is 1843.

Punch has the benevolence to announce, that in an early number of his ensuing Volume he will astonish the Parliamentary Committee by the publication of several exquisite designs, to be called Punch's Cartoons! ["Punch," June 24, 1843]
Also see -oon.

v.

1864 (implied in cartooned), from cartoon (n.). Related: Cartooning.