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

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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

See Examples For:

vaudeville

But as soon as the cast is set in motion, the overriding impression is that of a manifesto springing into a college vaudeville.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

The 100-year-old venue opened in 1925 as a vaudeville and silent movie house where Walt Disney previewed his animated shorts, but it changed identities many times over the course of its history.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

Her debut album included “Nobody,” composed in 1905 by vaudeville comedian Bert Williams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

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

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026

The three hops of the bunny became three struts of a vaudeville vamp.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

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