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pomp and circumstance

/pɑmp ænd ˈsʌrkəmstæns/
IPA guide

A ceremony full of pomp and circumstance is one with lots of flashy, grand displays. Think presidential inauguration or the crowning of a queen.

Pomp itself usually means "a flashy, grand ceremony," but circumstance used to mean "fuss made about something," a sense we've mostly lost except in this phrase. In Othello, Shakespeare referred to "pride, pompe, and circumstance of glorious warre." The English musical composer Edward Elgar produced a series of marches called the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, and their popularity probably make this phrase an enduring part of the English language.

Definitions of pomp and circumstance
  1. idiom
    the showy display of a special or grand event; the activities, decoration, and clothing associated with such an event
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