Pomp

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈpÉ’mp/
• GenAm IPA: /ˈpɑːmp/
• Rhymes: -É’mp

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French pompe, from Latin pompa ("pomp"), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompē, "a sending, a solemn procession, pomp"), from πέμπω (pempō, "I send").

Full definition of pomp

Noun

1. Show of magnificence; parade; display; power.
• 1698. "A person of quality" 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."
• Joyce Ulysses, Episode 12, The CyclopsThe 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.
2. A procession distinguished by ostentation and splendor; a pageant.
• Addisonall the pomps of a Roman triumph

Related terms

• pompous
• pomposity

Verb

1. (obsolete) To make a pompous display; to conduct.