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Theater vs Theatrical - What's the difference?

theater | theatrical |

As nouns the difference between theater and theatrical

is that theater is theater, theatre while theatrical is a stage performance, especially one by amateurs.

As an adjective theatrical is

of or relating to the theatre.

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

    * ----

    theatrical

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or relating to the theatre.
  • * 12 July 2012 , Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
  • The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
  • Fake and exaggerated.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A stage performance, especially one by amateurs.