infotainment

English

Etymology

Blend of information +‎ entertainment.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnfəʊˈteɪnmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnfoʊˈteɪnmənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧fo‧tain‧ment
• Rhymes: -eɪnmənt

Noun

infotainment (countable and uncountable, plural infotainments)

1. A form of programming (cinematic, television, live action, etc.) that provides both information and entertainment, consisting of mostly celebrity news and human drama. [from 1982]

   Synonym: soft news

2. Information and/or entertainment facilities.
   • 2023 July 20, Andrew J. Hawkins, “People are getting fed up with all the useless tech in their cars”, in The Verge‎^[1]:

     Unsurprisingly, more people are choosing not to use their car’s native infotainment controls. Only 56 percent of owners prefer to use their vehicle’s built-in system to play audio, down from 70 percent in 2020, JD Power found. Less than half of owners said they like using their car’s native controls for navigation, voice recognition, or to make phone calls.

Translations

form of programming that provides both information and entertainment

• Finnish: asiaviihde
• French: infodivertissement (fr) m
• Spanish: infoentretenimiento m, infoocio m

See also

• edutainment