pantomime
pronunciation
How to pronounce pantomime in British English:
UK [ˈpæntəmaɪm]
How to pronounce pantomime in American English:
US [ˈpæntəˌmaɪm]
-
- Noun:
- a performance using gestures and body movements without words
-
- Verb:
- act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements only
Word Origin
- pantomime
- pantomime: [17] In ancient Rome, a pantomīmus was a ‘mime artist’, a sort of Marcel Marceau performer who acted scenes, incidents, etc without words. The term was adopted from Greek pantómōmos ‘complete imitator’, a compound formed from panto- ‘all’ and mōmos ‘imitator, actor’ (source of English mime). English originally took the word over in this historical sense, and it was not until the early 18th century that it began to be used first for a sort of mime ballet and then for a play without words, relating a popular tale, which gradually developed into the Christmas fairy-tale pantomimes of the 19th and 20th centuries.The abbreviation panto dates from the mid-19th century.=> mime
- pantomime (n.)
- 1610s, "mime actor," from Latin pantomimus "mime, dancer," from Greek pantomimos "actor," literally "imitator of all," from panto- (genitive of pan) "all" (see pan-) + mimos "imitator" (see mime (n.)). Meaning "drama or play without words" first recorded 1735. The English dramatic performances so called, usually at Christmas and with words and songs and stock characters, are attested by this name from 1739; said to have originated c. 1717. Related: Pantomimic; pantomimical.
- pantomime (v.)
- 1768, from pantomime (n.). Related: Pantomimed; pantomiming.
Example
- 1. A once-feared colossus has become a pantomime villain , hissed from the stage .
- 2. Every day along the world 's busiest border , an expensive and time-consuming pantomime is acted out .
- 3. She is expert at pantomime , funny as the tow-headed , doe-eyed and trusting foil and sentient enough to portray in wordless tension her fear of the man she basically loves .
- 4. Princess elizabeth is prince charming and princess margaret is cinderella in a royal pantomime at windsor castle , december 1941 .
- 5. The traditional christmas pantomime usually included a singing and / or dancing chorus line of some sort , and in the original peter pan some of the showgirls were mermaids .