car·toon / kärˈtoōn/ • n. 1. a simple drawing showing the features of its subjects in a humorously exaggerated way, esp. a satirical one in a newspaper or magazine. ∎  a comic strip. ∎ fig. a simplified or exaggerated version or interpretation of something: this movie is a cartoon of rural life in America.2. a motion picture using animation techniques to photograph a sequence of drawings rather than real people or objects.3. a full-size drawing made by an artist as a preliminary design for a painting or other work of art.• v. [tr.] (usu. be cartooned) make a drawing of (someone) in a simplified or exaggerated way: she has a face with enough character to be cartooned.DERIVATIVES: car·toon·ish adj.car·toon·ist / -ist/ n.car·toon·y adj.

cartoon (1876–1973) Originally a preparatory drawing. Italian Renaissance painters made very thorough cartoons, such as Raphael for the Sistine Chapel. Its more common, modern usage in reference to a humorous drawing or satirical picture is derived from a 19th-century competition for fresco designs for Parliament parodied in Punch magazine. See also caricature

cartoon drawing made as a design for a painting XVII; illustration in a periodical as a comment on current events XIX. — F. carton — It. cartone, augm. of carta paper, CARD 2; see -OON.

cartoon. Full-size scale drawing on stout paper, for a work in, e.g., stained-glass, mosaic, etc.