amusement

1 a feeling of delight at being entertained

2 a diversion that holds the attention [syn: entertainment]

English

Etymology

amuse + -ment

Pronunciation

• /əˈmjuzmənt/, /@"mjuzm@nt/
• Hyphenation: a·muse·ment

Noun

1. Entertainment
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 234a.

     This is some form of amusement you're talking about.

2. Something entertaining or amusing.

Translations

• Breton: diduamant -où
• Bulgarian: забавление
• Czech: zábava
• Traditional Chinese: 娛樂(ㄩˊㄌㄜˋ)
• Danish: underholdning
• Dutch: amusement , vertier
• Finnish: huvi (1), huvitus (1), huvittuneisuus, hilpeys
• French: amusement
• German: Amüsement qualifier obsolete, Entertainment qualifier colloquial, Unterhaltung , Vergnügen
• Greek: διασκέδαση (ðiaskéðasi) , ψυχαγωγία (psykhagogia) , αναψυχή (anapsykhi)
• Hebrew: שעשוע (sha'ashua)
• Indonesian: hiburan
• Japanese: アミューズメント (amyūzumento); 娯楽 (goraku); 遊び (asobi)
• Polish: zabawa
• Portuguese: divertimento
• Slovene: zabava , razvedrilo
• Spanish: divertimiento
• Telugu: వినోదం
• Vietnam: sự hài hước

Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and usually entertaining events or situations, and is associated with enjoyment, happiness, laughter and pleasure. Amusement may also be experienced through the recollection of events which have given rise to amusement in the past.

Reactions

Humans will typically laugh or smile to display amusement. For most people at some time, situations which would normally elicit amusement may not always have the same effect, due to various reasons such as one's state of mind. People with certain disorders or disabilities may sometimes appear to experience amusement without an obvious cause or reason.

Although various animals may be perceived as experiencing amusement, this may simply be a case of anthropomorphism. Interpretations of "amusement" may be attributed to animals that do not behave as expected, such as where an animal runs instead of walks, or becomes more alert. Other animals such as dogs may wag their tails or spin around, birds may chirp more loudly or frequently, while racoons or bears may not react at all.

However, there are instances of animals reportedly, "playing jokes" on other animals or humans. While they may not show any outward signs of amusement, it would seem as if there is no other explanation.

animal pleasure, beguilement, bodily pleasure, carnal delight, comfort, content, contentment, coziness, creature comforts, dissipation, distraction, diversion, divertissement, ease, endpleasure, enjoyment, entertainment, euphoria, forepleasure, frivolity, fruition, fun, game, glee, gleefulness, gratification, great satisfaction, gusto, hearty enjoyment, high glee, hilariousness, hilarity, intellectual pleasure, jocularity, jocundity, joie de vivre, joke, jolliness, jollity, joviality, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, keen pleasure, kicks, lark, laughter, levity, luxury, merriment, merriness, mirth, mirthfulness, pastime, physical pleasure, pleasure, quiet pleasure, recreation, relaxation, relish, satisfaction, self-gratification, self-indulgence, sensual pleasure, sensuous pleasure, sexual pleasure, sport, sweetness of life, titillation, voluptuousness, well-being, zest