vaudeville

American  

[vawd-vil, vohd-, vaw-duh-] / ˈvɔd vɪl, ˈvoʊd-, ˈvɔ də- /

noun

1. theatrical entertainment consisting of a number of individual performances, acts, or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians.

2. a theatrical piece of light or amusing character, interspersed with songs and dances.

3. a satirical cabaret song.

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vaudeville British  

/ ˈvəʊdəvɪl, ˈvɔː- /

noun

1. Brit name: music hall.  variety entertainment consisting of short acts such as acrobatic turns, song-and-dance routines, animal acts, etc, popular esp in the early 20th century

2. a light or comic theatrical piece interspersed with songs and dances

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vaudeville Cultural  

1. Light theatrical entertainment, popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of a succession of short acts. A vaudeville show usually included comedians, singers, dancers, jugglers, trained animals, magicians, and the like.

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Etymology

Origin of vaudeville

1730–40; < French, shortened alteration of Middle French chanson du vau de Vire “song of the vale ( def. ) of Vire,” a valley of Calvados, France, noted for satirical folksongs

Explanation

Vaudeville is a type of entertainment that mixes comedy and music in a variety show. Originally, a vaudeville was a popular song satirizing current events. Eventually, it came to mean a type of variety show that mixed comedy and music. Vaudeville, or "music hall," was popular between the end of the 19th- and the beginning of the 20th century. Vaudeville performers were multi-talented, because they might have to tell a joke one minute, dance the next, and then sing. The word vaudeville comes from the French phrase voix de ville, "voice of the city."

Example Sentences

He was playing, as they say in vaudeville, to a different "house".

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

A typical vaudeville show involved a series of 10-minute acts like stand-up comedy, dancing, singing and juggling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026

Prominent public figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt spoke there before it transitioned into a vaudeville venue.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026

It plays out cheerily as a kind of vaudeville show.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025

Blake, who was from Maryland, was the only surviving child of eight born to former slaves, and like Chaplin he had learnt his trade as a vaudeville performer.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall