Articles
Something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement: a clown at a birthday party; a Broadway show; a stadium rock concert; friends fighting over the last potato chip. The word originated from the Middle French entretenement, which means “to keep up.” It is related to hospitable provision for guests.
Entertaining encompasses many forms of activity: a play or movie, for instance, is entertainment in the theatrical sense; a puzzle or crossword is entertainment in the mental realm; and a sporting event is entertainment in the physical world. Bates and Ferri (2010) describe six characteristics of entertainment: objective, communication between text and audience from an external stimulus, provides pleasure, requires an audience, and occurs in a passive form.