Entertaiment is a wide-ranging activity with a strong association with leisure, although many entertainments may have a serious purpose. Activities that were originally used in hunting or war, for example, can become spectator sports, while cooking and a variety of other activities have been transformed into professionally-recorded, broadcast entertainment.
entmt. is a common abbreviation of the word entertainment found on fliers and in some industry news publications. It is also frequently used in short hand note taking. Bates and Ferri (2010) suggest that entertainment is understood objectively, communicates from text to audience, involves external stimulus, offers pleasure, requires an audience, and is a passive activity.