Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

picture show

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.02 in modern English

Syllables: pic-ture show
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Synonym of movie.

Dated

Example Sentences

"His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and won five dollars. She gave the money to Dill, who went to the picture show twenty times on it."

Etymology

Ellipsis of motion-picture show. Although the collocation per se (noun adjunct + noun) predates motion pictures, previously having referred occasionally to the display of collections of illustrations, its status as a compound noun comes from its "motion picture" sense.

Usage

Dated

Inflected Forms

picture shows (plural)

Synonyms

movie film picture moving picture moving-picture show motion picture motion-picture show pic flick

Questions

What does picture show mean?: Synonym of movie.
Where does picture show come from?: Ellipsis of motion-picture show. Although the collocation per se (noun adjunct + noun) predates motion pictures, previously having referred occasionally to the display of collections of illustrations, its status as a compound noun comes from its "motion picture" sense.

How to pronounce picture show

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “picture show”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “picture show” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.