Vanity Fair

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.

Vanity Fair

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

Vanity Fair

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Vanity Fair¹

from Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Example Sentences

For seven days in early October, Anthropic’s large language model Claude was the brand-in-residence at the Air Mail newsstand, the physical outpost for the digital magazine founded by former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

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The year before, Vanity Fair ran an embarrassing exposé on her love affair with high-society hairdresser Frédéric Fekkai, detailing her five failed marriages and dalliances with younger men, which, according to the magazine, included the singer Michael Bolton, the actor Michael Nouri and, briefly, one of the chauffeurs at the Ritz Paris.

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In March, Taylor left “no grey area” about hanging out with the British actor at the Vanity Fair Oscars bash.

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She will continue to oversee Condé Nast, the global media company that publishes Vogue among other publications including the New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired.

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“After Sergio died, I discovered a strength but also many weaknesses: the fear of living, the fear of being alone, the fear of seeing the people I love disappear,” he told Vanity Fair.

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