vanitas

[ van-i-tahs ]

/ ˈvæn ɪˌtɑs /

noun

a type of still-life painting that flourished in the Netherlands from about 1620 to 1650, conveying a religious message and characterized by objects symbolic of mortality and the meaninglessness of worldly pleasures.

Nearby words

vanir, vanish, vanishing cream, vanishing lung syndrome, vanishing point, vanitas, vanitory, vanity, vanity bag, vanity case, vanity fair

Origin of vanitas

1905–10; Latin: literally, vanity

Examples from the Web for vanitas

Was he muttering to himself the usual consolation of the ‘have-beens’—vanitas vanitatum?
Tracks of a Rolling Stone|Henry J. Coke
His cry of vanitas vanitatum is itself only a harmless vanity.
George Bernard Shaw|Gilbert K. Chesterton
There is Vanitas over the way;—he once wore just such pigmy affairs.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865|Various
Similis reviviscendi promissa Democrito vanitas, qui non revixit ipse.
The Works of Sir Thomas Browne|Thomas Browne

Omnia vanitas et pastio venti, , ut olim Aquila et Symmachus.
The Works of Sir Thomas Browne|Thomas Browne