pageant
pronunciation
How to pronounce pageant in British English:
UK [ˈpædʒənt]
How to pronounce pageant in American English:
US [ˈpædʒənt]
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- Noun:
- an elaborate representation of scenes from history etc; usually involves a parade with rich costumes
- a rich and spectacular ceremony
Word Origin
- pageant (n.)
- late 14c., "play in a cycle of mystery plays," from Medieval Latin pagina, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Latin pagina "page of a book" (see page (n.1)) on notion of "manuscript" of a play. But an early sense in Middle English also was "stage or scene of a play" (late 14c.) and Klein says a sense of Latin pagina was "movable scaffold" (probably from the etymological sense of "stake"). With excrescent -t as in ancient (adj.). Generalized sense of "showy parade, spectacle" is first attested 1805, though this notion is found in pageantry (1650s).
Synonym
Example
- 1. There 's a bit of propaganda in any pageant .
- 2. And the table talk this day centers on kristen dalton , the 22-year-old wilmingtonian who represented the u.s. in the previous night 's miss universe pageant .
- 3. What does the wodaabe people 's pageant tell us about male beauty ?
- 4. China 's annual parliamentary pageant has become the busiest and most exclusive event on the social networking calendar in china .
- 5. These were just some of the ideas on show yesterday when china kicked off its annual political pageant in beijing , the chinese people 's political consultative conference .