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Theater vs Playhouse - What's the difference?

theater | playhouse |

As nouns the difference between theater and playhouse

is that theater is a place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on while playhouse is a theater; a venue for performing plays.

theater

English

Alternative forms

* theatre (standard spelling in all English-speaking countries except the USA)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • The theater is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, it is also the return of art to life.
  • A region where a particular action takes place; a specific field of action, usually with reference to war.
  • His grandfather was in the Pacific theater during the war.
  • A lecture theatre.
  • (medicine) An operating theatre or locale for human experimentation.
  • This man is about to die, get him into theater at once!
  • (US) A cinema.
  • We sat in the back row of the theater and threw popcorn at the screen.
  • Drama or performance as a profession or artform.
  • I worked in the theater for twenty-five years.

    Usage notes

    * The spelling (theatre) is the main spelling in British English, with (theater) being rare. * In United States English, (theater) accounts for about 80 percent of usage in the major corpus of usage, COCA.

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    playhouse

    English

    Noun

    (playhouses)
  • A theater; a venue for performing plays.
  • A toy house for children to play in; a cubby house or Wendy house.