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mummery

[muhm-uh-ree]
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noun, plural mum·mer·ies.
  1. the performance of mummers.
  2. any performance, ceremony, etc., regarded as absurd, false, or ostentatious.
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Origin of mummery

First recorded in 1520–30; mummer + -y3
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

pun, humor, antic, farce, one-liner, trick, laugh, parody, gag, stunt, wisecrack, prank, decorum, repartee, whimsy, revel, epigram, jest, sport, rib

Examples from the Web for mummery

Historical Examples

  • But your hypocrisy and your mummery shall serve you to little purpose.

    Imogen

    William Godwin

  • That is as good as going to Church to be the central figures of the mummery of priests.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • Even to keep an open mind himself to all the muss and mummery of the Church!

  • They too recognized him now, and realized that here was no mummery.

    The Sea-Hawk

    Raphael Sabatini

  • It was all humbug––all this mummery about intuitions and unerring perception and inscrutability.

    Rope

    Holworthy Hall

British Dictionary definitions for mummery

mummery

noun plural -meries
  1. a performance by mummers
  2. hypocritical or ostentatious ceremony
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mummery

n.

1520s, "performance of mumming," from Old French mommerie, from momer (see mummer). Transferred sense of "ridiculous ceremony or ritual" is from 1540s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper