- 1[countable] a building or an outdoor area where plays and similar types of entertainment are performed Broadway theaters an open-air theater How often do you go to the theater? see lecture hall
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- 2(also movie theater, cinema) [countable] a building in which movies are shown
- 3[uncountable] plays considered as entertainment an evening of live music and theater current ideas about what makes good theater (= what makes good entertainment when performed)
- 4[uncountable] the theater [singular] the work of writing, producing, and acting in plays I want to work in theater. He was essentially a man of the theater.
- 5[countable, usually singular] theater (of war, etc.) (formal) the place in which a war or fighting takes place an intelligence officer in the Pacific theater
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