noun
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spectacular display or ceremony
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archaic pageants collectively
Etymology
Origin of pageantry
Explanation
Pageantry is the grandeur that turns an event into an elaborate spectacle. The long ritual of a new queen's coronation is a good example of pageantry. In contrast to the simplicity of a small wedding ceremony in a friend's back yard, a grand, expensive wedding might include such pageantry as a parade of bridesmaids in rainbow-colored gowns, followed by a mariachi band and the bride arriving on the back of an elephant. Pageantry comes from pageant, which today is a "showy spectacle or parade," but in Middle English meant "stage or scene of a play."
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.
“Stamptown” at the Montalbán was filmed as part of a Netflix special that will air later this year, which any lover of brain rot and pageantry should be sure to check out.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
From the minute King Charles and Queen Camilla stepped onto the White House South Lawn, US networks dumped their standard diet of political warfare and breaking news for something rare: pure pageantry.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Arguably more interest stemmed from the pageantry of Sunday's game than from the actual cricket.
From BBC • Feb. 15, 2026
What makes the upcoming pageantry and platitudes remarkable is the country’s mood.
From Salon • Jan. 3, 2026
I never get tired of this—of the spectacle, of the pageantry.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
