pageant
Americannoun
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pageants
plural
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an elaborate public spectacle illustrative of the history of a place, institution, or the like, often given in dramatic form or as a procession of colorful floats.
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a costumed procession, masque, allegorical tableau, or the like forming part of public or social festivities.
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a show or exhibition, especially one consisting of a succession of participants or events.
a beauty pageant.
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something comparable to a procession in colorful variety, splendor, or grandeur.
the pageant of Renaissance history.
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a pretentious display or show that conceals a lack of real importance or meaning.
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(in medieval times) a platform or stage, usually moving on wheels, on which scenes from mystery plays were presented.
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display or pageantry.
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Obsolete. a stage bearing any kind of spectacle.
noun
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an elaborate colourful parade or display portraying scenes from history, esp one involving rich costume
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any magnificent or showy display, procession, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pageant
1350–1400; Middle English pagyn, pagaunt, pagand < Anglo-Latin pāgina a stage for plays, scene, platform, perhaps special use of Latin pāgina page 1
Explanation
A pageant is an elaborate show or parade that usually depicts a historical or religious event, although these days more people know them as Miss America-type beauty contests. Pageants aren't just for beauty queens — any richly decorated spectacle or ceremony could be considered a pageant. Around Christmas time, many Christian churches put on pageants that reenact the birth of Jesus. The Carnival parades in Brazil represent another type of pageant. And if your school organized a show where students had to act out famous moments in history? That would be a pageant, too.
Vocabulary lists containing pageant
List 9
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Stella by Starlight
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Turtles All the Way Down
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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:
When Thom Brodeur bought Miss USA last year, the beauty pageant organization was in ugly shape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
He said he’d use those same sales skills to try to lure back pageant audiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
The investigation into Adetshina's status came after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
“It feels like the benefits and the perks that we have enjoyed for a long time keep vanishing,” said Todd Stubbler, a 61-year-old pageant helper who has worked at Disneyland for close to 35 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Our great event for counterfeit Easter Sunday was a pageant, organized by Father and whoever else could drum up the enthusiasm.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Founded in the Bay Area in 1965, the organization hosts drag pageants to raise funds for the LGBTQ+ community, namely to help those contending with HIV/AIDS and homelessness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
The shorts often satirize Christmas traditions such as gift-giving and pageants.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
More than 120 women from across the world have gathered in Thailand, vying to be crowned Miss Universe in a contest considered one of the "big four" of global beauty pageants.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2025
The Miss Universe contestants, who are the winners of national pageants in their home countries, attended Tuesday's event in their sashes and gowns.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
Yet another common suffragist strategy was the presentation of pageants, which the dictionary defines as “an elaborate public dramatic presentation that usually depicts a historical or traditional event.”
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
