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

I read and reread the “Meg Goes to Vanity Fair” chapter of “Little Women,” in which the oldest March sister is invited to a friend’s estate and is so mortified at being treated like a threadbare charity case that she gives in to envy and allows her hosts to doll her up in what her disapproving young neighbor Laurie calls “feathers and fuss.”

From Salon

TV news veteran Chris Wallace and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter are among its employees.

From The Wall Street Journal

She had dreaded it the entire afternoon, spending far too long dithering over the sun-faded magazines in the newsstands before she settled on a copy of Vanity Fair featuring the latest it boy actor, a young Brit with dark curls, an olive complexion, and a dimpled smirk.

From Literature

When a Substack executive approached former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown about starting a newsletter on the emerging platform, she was hesitant to join.

From The Wall Street Journal

The year ended with a Vanity Fair photographer capturing a close-up portrait of 28-year-old White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that appears to show visible injection spots on her lips.

From Salon