video

1 of 2

noun

vid·​eo ˈvi-dē-ˌō How to pronounce video (audio)
plural videos
1
: a recording of an image or of moving images
They often post videos of the kids online.
: such as
a
: a recorded show or presentation
a training/workout/promotional video
You won't just have access to generic movies, TV shows, and other videos. You'll see content from major brands …Sarah Chaney
b
: a recorded performance of a song often featuring an interpretation of the lyrics through visual images
The opening images of the music video … create a scary, dystopian feeling …Nicole McKenna
2
: television
also : the visual portion of television
3
: videotape
She goes over to the television and pops a video into the VCR.Cathy Horyn

video

2 of 2

adjective

1
: being, relating to, or used in the transmission or reception of the television image
a video channel
compare audio
2
: being, relating to, or involving images on a television screen or computer display
a video terminal

Examples of video in a Sentence

Noun We're going to rent a couple of videos to watch this weekend. She was talking about a popular video she saw on the Internet. The video of their wedding was made by a professional company. The movie is available on video and DVD. a TV channel that plays videos all day Her latest music video was first released on the Internet. Adjective The video portion of the broadcast was fine but the sound was poor. The large video file took a while to upload on my computer.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Standing, in the below video, is Brinton Smith, the section leader (and a friend of mine). Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 Mar. 2024 Watch this video to meet a virtual DJ who has performed at shows around the world. Alexandra Banner, CNN, 15 Mar. 2024 An Austin, Texas resident who has been documenting the city’s homeless crisis shared a video Wednesday showing a greenbelt destroyed by a homeless encampment. Bradford Betz, Fox News, 15 Mar. 2024 In the crevices of Whack World’s cartoonish video sets and songs were contemplations on death that have colored bits of her work ever since. Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 15 Mar. 2024 Social media video emerged of the tornado looming eerily against graying skies at dusk. Scott Dance, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024 An Elusive American Artist: Joan Jonas’s maximalist, category-defying work combines video, performance, folklore, sculpture and ecology. Davit Giorgadze Kk Obi, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2024 But many of these videos were made using the original version of OpenAI’s chatbot, which was released to the public in late November, 2022, and was based on the GPT-3.5 large language model. Cal Newport, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2024 Sewell and Billie Piper talked about their filming experience at the Next on Netflix event at the Picturehouse Central cinema and cultural space in the British capital, while Anderson shared some thoughts in a video message. Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2024
Adjective
The Property Crimes investigators then began interviewing suspects and searching for video evidence. Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 14 Feb. 2024 So far the union has not announced any further job actions, although Fain is set to brief the membership in a video appearance Friday morning. Dylan Lovan, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2023 The video quality of the backup camera left something to be desired, however, with a noticeably bad frame rate. Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 12 May 2023 Videos play super crisp as well, and the frame includes a speaker for video sound. Maddie Michalik, Travel + Leisure, 25 Jan. 2024 The Istanbul Police Department has seized a fleet of luxury cars from a criminal and repurposed them for the field, according to a video Turkish interior minister Ali Yerlikaya posted to X on December 26. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 27 Dec. 2023 The Pix-Star’s photo quality is crisp and clear, as is its video playback quality. Cai Cramer, Peoplemag, 15 Dec. 2023 After the show, fans caught on video Swift, still dressed in the sparkly costume from her final song, running into Kelce’s arms and sharing a kiss. Becca Wood, NBC News, 20 Nov. 2023 There might be video or sound issues, or the show itself might be incomplete. WIRED, 18 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'video.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Latin vidēre to see + -o (as in audio)

First Known Use

Noun

1935, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of video was in 1934

Dictionary Entries Near video

Cite this Entry

“Video.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/video. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

video

1 of 2 noun
vid·​eo ˈvid-ē-ˌō How to pronounce video (audio)
1
2
a
: a recording of a movie or television program for playing through a television set
b
: a videotaped performance of a song
3
: a recording similar to a videotape but stored in digital form (as an optical disk or a computer's hard drive)

video

2 of 2 adjective
1
: relating to or used in the sending or receiving of television images
a video channel
compare audio entry 1 sense 2b
2
: being, relating to, or involving images on a television screen or computer display
a video terminal

More from Merriam-Webster on video

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!