noun
-
a procession of people on horseback, in cars, etc
-
any procession
a cavalcade of guests
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cavalcade
1585–95; < Middle French < early Italian cavalcata horseback raid, equivalent to cavalc ( are ) to ride on horseback (< Late Latin caballicāre, equivalent to caball ( us ) horse ( see cavalier) + -icā- v. suffix + -re infinitive ending) + -ata -ade 1
Explanation
If you are traveling with a procession of people on horseback, you are part of a cavalcade. The word cavalcade comes from the Latin word for horse, caballus. The word cavalry, which means soldiers on horseback, comes from the same Latin root. So strictly speaking, a cavalcade is group of people on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages, moving together in some kind of ceremony or parade. But cavalcades can include vehicles or people walking, like the motorcycle cavalcades that sometimes accompany a funeral procession.
Vocabulary lists containing cavalcade
The Hobbit
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 9
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The 57 Bus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the short term, though, a cavalcade of companies from Snap to Amazon have invoked AI or a desire to find efficiencies as they slash large portions of their workforces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
Before rushing into action, or joining the cavalcade fretting about a market bubble, remember Thanksgiving.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
By contrast, of the 15 losses in England's current cavalcade of clatterings in Australia sequence, three have been by an innings.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
In the daytime, Disneyland will provide a character cavalcade rather than one of its full parade productions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
Ranyinudo parked on a street in Lekki, which was bare reclaimed land when Ifemelu left, but now a cavalcade of large houses encircled by high walls.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Creative solutions, such as staging socially distanced character meet-and-greets and replacing daytime parades with character cavalcades, turned the park into a greater place of theater.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2022
By the halfway point, it had blown my mind twice and accumulated such cavalcades of incident that I couldn’t fathom where it had left to go — but it found places, and it went there.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2022
The devolution of SNL cold opens from laser-focused comedic premises like “Chevy Chase falls down” to loosely structured cavalcades of celebrity guest appearances continues apace.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2020
Crisp passing, alley-oop dunks, cavalcades of 3-pointers - what’s not to like?
From Washington Times ● Mar. 31, 2018
It thus happened that when the two cavalcades encountered each other, and the bridegroom, according to custom, threw the orange and rode off, he had some considerable distance to ride.
From Tales of the Caliph by Crellin, H. N.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
