Phrase guide

seventh art

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsɛvnθ ˈɑːt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌsɛvənθ ˈɑɹt/
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)t

1

noun

Meaning 1

The art of making motion pictures; filmmaking; cinema.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: chiefly preceded by the definite article

Topics: broadcasting, film, media, television

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of Italian settima arte, which was coined by the Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo (1877–1923) in 1921, considering filmmaking to be a new art combining the six previous arts of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance, and poetry. Canudo had previously used the term sesta arte (literally “sixth art”) to describe filmmaking around 1911 when he did not include dance in the set of preceding arts.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: seitsemäs taide — art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking
  • Finnish: seitsemäs taiteenlaji — art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking
  • French: septième art — art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking
  • Italian: settima arte — art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking
  • Polish: filmoznawstwo — art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking