Meanings
plural picture palaces
- UKdatedhistoricalAn elaborately decorated motion picture theater, principally as constructed from 1910 to 1950.
[…] by cajolery and innuendo she had persuaded him to go to the picture palace to be cheered up, and as it was now on the turn of eleven he might be expected back at any moment.
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC1 more example
After tea, the bright boys wash, clean their boots, and change into their “second-best” attire, and stroll forth, either to a picture palace or to the second house of the Balham Hippodrome; […]
1918 [1915], Thomas Burke, Nights in London, New York: Henry Holt and Company, page 75Synonyms: movie palace
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn elaborately decorated motion picture theater, principally as constructed from 1910 to 1950.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna theater where films are shown
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From the romantically decorated, palacelike façades and interiors of the theaters.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
picture palace. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20palace
“picture palace.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20palace. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “picture palace,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20palace.
Source: picture palace on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.