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Pomp vs Pageant - What's the difference?

pomp | pageant | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between pomp and pageant

is that pomp is show of magnificence; parade; display; power while pageant is an elaborate public display, especially a parade in historical or traditional costume.

As verbs the difference between pomp and pageant

is that pomp is to make a pompous display; to conduct while pageant is to exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.

pomp

English

Noun

  • Show of magnificence; parade; display; power.
  • * 1698 . "A person of quality" [Pierre Nicole]. Moral Essayes, Contain'd in Several Treatises on Many Important Duties. Vol I, p95.
  • "'Tis a gross visible errour, which Tertullian teaches in his Book of Idolatry cap. 18. That all the marks of Dignity and Power, and all the ornaments annexed to Office, are forbid Christians, and that Jesus Christ hath plac'd all these things amongst the pomps of the Devil, since he himself appeared in a condition so far from all pomp and splendour."
  • * , Episode 12, The Cyclops
  • The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.
  • A procession distinguished by ostentation and splendor; a pageant.
  • * Addison
  • all the pomps of a Roman triumph

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make a pompous display; to conduct.
  • (Ben Jonson)
    (Webster 1913)

    pageant

    Alternative forms

    * pageaunt (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An elaborate public display, especially a parade in historical or traditional costume.
  • A spectacular ceremony.
  • A beauty pageant.
  • Synonyms

    * (elaborate public display) spectacle * (beauty pageant) beauty pageant

    Derived terms

    * pageantry * beauty pageant

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He pageants us.