pomp
English
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French pompe, from Latin pompa (“pomp”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending, a solemn procession, pomp”), from πέμπω (pémpō, “I send”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɒmp/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɑːmp/
- Rhymes: -ɒmp
Audio (UK male) (file)
Noun
pomp (countable and uncountable, plural pomps)
- Show of magnificence; parade; display; power.
- 1698, Pierre Nicole, “A person of quality”, in Moral Essayes, Contain'd in Several Treatises on Many Important Duties., volume I, page 95:
- '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.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
- 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.
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- A procession distinguished by ostentation and splendor; a pageant.
- 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian:
- […] a more beautiful expression of joy and thanksgiving than could have been exhibited by all the pomps of a Roman triumph.
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Related terms
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
pomp (third-person singular simple present pomps, present participle pomping, simple past and past participle pomped)
- (obsolete) To make a pompous display; to conduct.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for pomp in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɔmp/, [pʰʌmˀb̥]
Synonyms
- pragt
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch pompe. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɔmp/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: pomp
- Rhymes: -ɔmp
Derived terms
Icelandic
Etymology
Probably a loan word from the Danish pomp, from the French pompe, from the Latin pompa (“display, parade, procession”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pʰɔm̥p/
- Rhymes: -ɔm̥p
Declension
Synonyms
- (ceremony, pomp): viðhöfn, skraut