Definition of "theater"

theater

/ˈθi(ə)tɚ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural theaters
1. A place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on.
2. A region where a particular action takes place; a specific field of action, usually with reference to war.
  Quotations
  Percy had been too big for the town since he got back from the war. He served in the Pacific theater, behind the lines keeping up the supply chain.
  2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 69
3. A lecture theatre.
4. (medicine) An operating theatre or locale for human experimentation.
5. (US) A cinema.
6. Drama or performance as a profession or art form.
7. Any place rising by steps like the seats of a theater.
8. (figurative, derogatory, often following a noun used attributively) A conspicuous but unproductive display of action.
  Quotations
  ACTA proponents rely on claims of a growing piracy and counterfeiting threat. In the absence of credible evidence of the threat or that the measures in ACTA will reduce the threat, ACTA is no more than enforcement theater.
  2012, Andrew Rens, “Enforcement Theater: The Enforcement Agenda and the Institutionalization of Enforcement Theater in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”, in Suffolk Transnational Law Review‎, volume 35