Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An entertainment, such as a dramatic performance or movie, presented in the daytime, usually in the afternoon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A showing of a movie or theatrical performance in the afternoon.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French matinée, from matin, morning, from Old French matines, matins; see matins.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French matinée.

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Examples

Comments

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  • In modern movie theaters, the showings of a film that occur before 5:00 pm and which usually cost less to see, sometimes half of the regular price.

    February 4, 2008

  • descriptor for knitted baby clothes:

    Beryl, Graham's mother, had been a knitter, producing endless matinee sets when Emily and Ewan were babies—hats, jackets, mittens, bootees, leggings—threaded with fiddly ribbons and full of holes for tiny fingers to get caught in.
    Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn (New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2006), p. 101.

    June 5, 2016