[thee-uh-ter, theeuh
-] 
| 1. | a building, part of a building, or outdoor area for housing dramatic presentations, stage entertainments, or motion-picture shows. |
| 2. | the audience at a theatrical or motion-picture performance: The theater wept. |
| 3. | a theatrical or acting company. |
| 4. | a room or hall, fitted with tiers of seats rising like steps, used for lectures, surgical demonstrations, etc.: Students crowded into the operating theater. |
| 5. | the theater, dramatic performances as a branch of art; the drama: an actress devoted to the theater. |
| 6. | dramatic works collectively, as of literature, a nation, or an author (often prec. by the): the theater of Ibsen. |
| 7. | the quality or effectiveness of dramatic performance: good theater; bad theater; pure theater. |
| 8. | a place of action; field of operations. |
| 9. | a natural formation of land rising by steps or gradations. |
[Fr. tey-ah-truh ] . As with many early French borrowings (beauty, carriage, marriage), the stress moved to the first syllable, in conformity with a common English pattern of stress, and this pattern remains the standard one for theater today: [thee-uh-ter, theeuh-]. A pronunciation with stress on the second syllable and the [ey] vowel: [thee-ey-ter] or sometimes [thee-ey-ter] is characteristic chiefly of uneducated speech.| the·a·ter or the·a·tre (thē'ə-tər) n.
[Middle English theatre, from Old French, from Latin theātrum, from Greek theātron, from theāsthai, to watch, from theā, a viewing.] Word History: Theories about the development of the theater in the West generally begin with Greek drama; this is etymologically appropriate as well as historically correct, since the words theory and theater are related through their Greek sources. The Greek ancestor of theater is theātron, "a place for seeing, especially for dramatic representation, theater." Theātron is derived from the verb theāsthai, "to gaze at, contemplate, view as spectators, especially in the theater," from theā, "a viewing." The Greek ancestor of theory is theōriā, which meant among other things "the sending of theōroi (state ambassadors sent to consult oracles or attend games)," "the act of being a spectator at the theater or games," "viewing," "contemplation by the mind," and "theory or speculation." The source of theōriā is theōros, "an envoy sent to consult an oracle, spectator," a compound of theā, "viewing," and -oros, "seeing." It is thus fitting to elaborate theories about culture while seeing a play in a theater. |
"The Theatre of the Absurd strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational devices and discursive thought." [M. Esslin, "Theatre of the Absurd," 1961]
