different between pageantry vs formality

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pæd??nt?i/

Etymology

pageant +? -ry

Noun

pageantry (countable and uncountable, plural pageantries)

1. A pageant; a colourful show or display, as in a pageant.
   • 1609: William Shakespeare, Pericles (V, ii)

     That you aptly will suppose / What pageantry, what feats, what shows, / What minstrelsy, and pretty din, / The regent made in Mytilene / To greet the king.

   • 1849: Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

     The world seemed decked for some holiday or prouder pageantry, with silken streamers flying, ...

   • 2019, Barney Ronay, Liverpool’s waves of red fury and recklessness end in joyous bedlam (in The Guardian, 8 May 2019)[1]

     Anfield had been the usual portable pageantry of flags and banners and songs before kick-off. With the sky still blue above the away end the Barcelona fans stood and watched and took pictures and joined in the pre-match round of You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French formalité. equivalent to formal +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æl?ti

Noun

formality (countable and uncountable, plural formalities)

1. (uncountable) The state of being formal.
2. Something said or done as a matter of form.
3. A customary ritual without new or unique meaning.
4. (countable) A specific requirement for obtaining a legal status, conducting a transaction, etc.

Translations

Further reading

• formality in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• formality in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.