PAGEANT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pageant mean? 

• PAGEANT (noun)
  The noun PAGEANT has 2 senses:

1. an elaborate representation of scenes from history etc; usually involves a parade with rich costumes

2. a rich and spectacular ceremony

  Familiarity information: PAGEANT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PAGEANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An elaborate representation of scenes from history etc; usually involves a parade with rich costumes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

pageant; pageantry

Hypernyms ("pageant" is a kind of...):

representation (an activity that stands as an equivalent of something or results in an equivalent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A rich and spectacular ceremony

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

pageant; pageantry

Hypernyms ("pageant" is a kind of...):

ceremonial; ceremonial occasion; ceremony; observance (a formal event performed on a special occasion)

 Context examples 

The funeral procession was anything but a pageant.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He slept long hours and dreamed much, and through his mind passed an unending pageant of Northland visions.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The known and the unknown were commingled in the dream-pageant that thronged his vision.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

One is not even made wet by the rain nor cold by the frost; while death, instead of stalking about grewsome and accidental, becomes a prearranged pageant, moving along a well-oiled groove to the family vault, where the hinges are kept from rusting and the dust from the air is swept continually away.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)