Vanity Fair

American  

noun

1. (in Bunyan'sPilgrim's Progress ) a fair that goes on perpetually in the town of Vanity and symbolizes worldly ostentation and frivolity.

2. (often lowercase) any place or group, as the world or fashionable society, characterized by or displaying a preoccupation with idle pleasures or ostentation.

3. (italics) a novel (1847–48) by Thackeray.

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Vanity Fair British  

noun

1. literary (often not capitals) the social life of a community, esp of a great city, or the world in general, considered as symbolizing worldly frivolity

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Vanity Fair Cultural  

1. (1847–1848) A novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray. The leading character is Becky Sharp, an unscrupulous woman who gains wealth and influence by her cleverness.

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Etymology

Origin of Vanity Fair

from Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Example Sentences

Between chapters, McDowell provides potted explanations of Embassy Row, Washington Life Magazine, Cafe Milano — everything you need to follow along this new-old vanity fair.

From Washington Post • May 24, 2021

But too often, we use it as a vanity fair and an ego fortification system.

From New York Times • May 19, 2018

A poet who calls himself e e cummins and who has successfully posed for years without capitals, has had several things in vanity fair.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus, without capitals, were the headlines and picture captions in vanity fair for October.

From Time Magazine Archive

There the young receive their first introduction to society; there they see the world in all the brilliancy of outward life, in the pomp and pageantry of a vanity fair.

From The Christian Home by Philips, Samuel