different between pageantry vs ostentation

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

Originated 1425–75 from late Middle English ostentacioun, borrowed from Middle French ostentation, from Latin ostent?ti?, ostent?ti?nem, equivalent to ostent?tus (past participle of ostent?re, to display or exhibit), frequentative of ostendere (“to present, display”) + -i?n.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??st?n?te???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

ostentation (usually uncountable, plural ostentations)

1. Ambitious display; vain show; display intended to excite admiration or applause.
2. (obsolete) A show or spectacle.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1

     Let her awhile be secretly kept in,

     And publish it that she is dead indeed:

     Maintain a mourning ostentation;

Synonyms

• parade
• pageantry
• show
• showiness
• pomp
• pompousness
• vaunting
• boasting
• See also Thesaurus:arrogance

Related terms

• ostentatious
• ostensive
• ostensible

Translations

Further reading

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

References

• “ostentation”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ?ISBN
• “ostentation” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "ostentation" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s.t??.ta.sj??/

Noun

ostentation f (plural ostentations)

1. ostentation