What is animation?

Wikipedia style: Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways.

Dictionary.com style: the condition of living or the state of being alive; "while there's life there's hope"; "life depends on many chemical and physical processes"

Using my brilliant powers of deduction, I could assume that animation is the illusion of the state of living!

I could also deduce that the internet is a wondrously complex environment.

i found this ^ rather funny.