animated cartoon

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ˈan•i•mat•ed carˈtoon, n. [countable]

1. Show Business a motion picture made up of a sequence of drawings, each slightly different, so that when filmed and run through a projector the figures seem to move.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

an′imated cartoon′, 

1. Show Business a motion picture consisting of a sequence of drawings, each so slightly different that when filmed and run through a projector the figures seem to move.

• 1910–15

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

animated cartoon noun

1. a film produced by photographing a series of gradually changing drawings, etc, which give the illusion of movement when the series is projected rapidly