Pageant

//ˈpæd͡ʒənt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An elaborate public display, especially a parade in historical or traditional costume.

    "For a few moments the events of the day floated in disastrous pageant through my brain, till sleep bathed it in forgetfulness […]"

  2. 2
    an elaborate representation of scenes from history etc.; usually involves a parade with rich costumes wordnet
  3. 3
    A spectacular ceremony.
  4. 4
    a rich and spectacular ceremony wordnet
  5. 5
    Ellipsis of beauty pageant. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
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  1. 6
    A wheeled platform for the exhibition of plays, etc. obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.

    "He pageants us."

Synonyms

All synonyms
spectacleaffairantimasqueaudience successballetbeauty contest

Example

More examples

"Crowning toddler beauty pageant queens is Mr. Fredericksen's passion."

Etymology

Late 14th c. as Middle English pagent, from Medieval Latin pagina (“play in a cycle of mystery plays”), perhaps from Latin pāgina (“page of a book”).

Related phrases

be part of life's rich pageantbeauty pageantpageant feverpageant-goerbeauty pageant

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.