pomp
Americannoun
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stately or splendid display; splendor; magnificence.
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ostentatious or vain display, especially of dignity or importance.
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pomps, pompous displays, actions, or things.
The official was accompanied by all the pomps of his high position.
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Archaic. a stately or splendid procession; pageant.
noun
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stately or magnificent display; ceremonial splendour
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vain display, esp of dignity or importance
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obsolete a procession or pageant
Usage
What are other ways to say pomp?
Pomp refers to stately or splendid display, or to display that is ostentatious or vain. When should you use pomp over show, display, or ostentation? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pomp
1275–1325; Middle English < Latin pompa display, parade, procession < Greek pompḗ originally, a sending, akin to pémpein to send
Explanation
Pomp is a ceremonial display, such as you'd find at the Independence Day parade in your town, where brass bands and men and women in full military dress march to patriotic songs, while citizens wave flags and cheer. Graduation ceremonies — with gowns, invocations, speeches, and the ceremonial conferring of degrees — are full of pomp. In fact, graduates traditionally march to a tune called "Pomp and Circumstance." Pomp used to be much more closely linked to the word pompous, or self-important, than it is now — an archaic meaning of pomp is over the top, ostentatious or vain.
Vocabulary lists containing pomp
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Great Gatsby
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Othello
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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.
The programme will conclude with the traditional medley of sea shanties, Pomp and Circumstance and Auld Lang Syne.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
The soon-to-be Maywood Academy High School graduates processed, beaming, into an auditorium at East Los Angeles College to a recording of Pomp and Circumstance.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2025
Ms. Huckaby’s comb is federally trademarked under the name Pomp and Powder.
From Washington Times • Sep. 28, 2023
Composer Edward Elgar may be best known today as the accompaniment to every graduation ceremony with Pomp and Circumstance, but he was also a fan of cryptographic arts.
From Salon • Oct. 11, 2021
I looked back to gauge the progress of our pursuers, and whether they followed—and ’twas then I saw that Pomp had fallen behind the rest of us, cut off.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
