tableau
Americannoun
-
tableaux,
plural
-
tableaus
plural
-
a picture, as of a scene.
-
a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.
-
a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed.
-
Solitaire. the portion of a layout to which one may add cards according to suit or denomination.
noun
-
See tableau vivant
-
a pause during or at the end of a scene on stage when all the performers briefly freeze in position
-
any dramatic group or scene
-
logic short for semantic tableau
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tableau
First recorded in 1690–1700; from French: “board, picture,” Middle French tablel, diminutive of table table
Explanation
A tableau is a dramatic picture. If you catch a glance into the Oval Office and see top advisers speaking to each other with intensity, you behold a dramatic political tableau. Tableau comes from the old French for "picture, or painted target." We usually use tableau to describe a vivid living scene. If you are a journalist and want to describe the tension in a courtroom, you might write a verbal tableau of the judge, the jury, and the witness box. People used to entertain themselves by doing tableau vivant, or living pictures, by reenacting perfectly the frozen scene of a famous painting.
Vocabulary lists containing tableau
The Diary of Anne Frank
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Quiz yourself on these words spoken by the man at the center of the "Laurel" / "Yanny" craze!
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Handmaid's Tale
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
One almost gets a sense that the great doers of history were like robots, temporarily inhabited by an otherworldly spiritual force or, alternatively, were stick figures that Hegel moved about on his grandiose world-historical tableau.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026
The album was “Transference,” its cover a grainy seventies tableau — a boy slinking low in a golden wingback chair, viridian curtains pooling behind him, a table lamp casting an almost aggressively orange glow.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2025
You can feel it in the way Emily looks out her father’s window to the lake beyond, the wintery tableau both tranquil and poignant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025
But as the company grew, marketing its locations as a tableau in which to “stay awhile” ultimately meant there was a finite number of people they could sell coffee to per day.
From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2025
There were only thirty-two fencers competing in women’s saber, using a direct elimination tableau, so there was no first day of pool rounds.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Our critic called it “a loosely sketched drama told via visually impeccable tableaus and a few flights of well-staged fancy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
These tableaus take place against the backdrop of an increasingly militarized vision of Christmas that permeates American pop culture.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
Polaroids, knick knacks and mementos are carefully arranged in various tableaus — much as he left them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025
Following the processions, the bonfire societies burned their tableaus and let off fireworks in their respective fields.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2024
Millet had planned an elaborate series of explosive “set pieces,” fireworks affixed to large metal frames shaped to depict various portraits and tableaus.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Shakespeare in the park is the dominant form of outdoor theater, but don’t miss out on seeing Broadway musicals in Rancho Mirage, the ancients at Getty Villa or tableaux come to life in Laguna Beach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Wright manages his scene like Classical or biblical tableaux, but his subject and cast are as modern as the philosopher’s machines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
The staging, arranged around striking tableaux, is at once cinematic and fleetly theatrical.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
His tableaux don’t always succeed, but when they do, their strangeness hints at things beyond ordinary ken.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
The excitement of the party, the provocation of the tableaux, “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” the consumption of far too many sweets—the children were, as they say nowadays, over- stimulated.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
