Meaning & use
cinematic
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Connected with films or the making of films.
Grammar: Usually appears before a noun: cinematic history.
Patterns
- cinematic history
- cinematic technique
The festival celebrates a century of cinematic history.
She studied cinematic techniques such as camera angles and editing.
The director's cinematic influences include silent films.
adjectivecomparableapproving
Having the dramatic look, scale, or emotion of a movie, even though it is not in one.
Grammar: Can follow a linking verb (the view was cinematic) or come before a noun.
Patterns
- look cinematic
- a cinematic view
The sunset over the harbor looked almost cinematic.
The game's opening scene is cinematic, with sweeping music and dramatic lighting.
He proposed in a cinematic way, with fireworks over the lake.
Common combinations
- cinematic experience
- Seeing the film on a giant screen was a true cinematic experience.
- cinematic universe
- The studio is planning another film in its cinematic universe.
- cinematic quality
- The photographs have a cinematic quality.
- cinematic masterpiece
- Critics called the film a cinematic masterpiece.
- cinematic style
- His cinematic style relies on long, slow shots.
Synonyms and how they differ
- filmic
- Filmic is more technical and used in film criticism, while cinematic is the common word for both film topics and movie-like drama.
- dramatic
- Dramatic describes anything striking or intense, whereas cinematic implies specifically the visual look of a film.
- movie-like
- Movie-like is casual and plain, while cinematic sounds more polished and admiring.
Opposites
Word family
- cinema noun
- a movie theater, or film as an art
- cinematically adverb
- in a way relating to film
- cinematography noun
- the art of filming and lighting a movie
- cinematographer noun
- the person who handles the camera and lighting in a film
Commonly confused: cinematic or filmic?
cinematic vs filmic
Filmic is a rarer, more critical term; use cinematic when praising a scene that feels like a movie.
Practice
The photographer's sweeping mountain shots had a ___ feel, as if they were scenes from an adventure film.
Choose one answer.
Cinematic describes something with the dramatic look of a movie. The other words do not express a film-like quality.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cinematic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.