Pomp

Pomp

Noun · /pɒmp/ · magnificent ceremony and splendid display

Definition

Pomp refers to the grand, ceremonial display of power, dignity, or wealth — the pageantry of state occasions, royal processions, and formal rituals. It describes an atmosphere of magnificent formality: the fanfare, the uniforms, the deliberate grandeur. The word carries both admiration and, sometimes, gentle irony — excessive pomp can suggest self-importance or empty show.

Origin

From Latin pompa via Old French pompe, meaning a solemn procession. The Latin itself comes from Greek pompē — a sending forth, a procession, a formal escort. In ancient Greece, a pompē was a religious procession to a sanctuary. By the time the word entered Middle English in the 14th century, it already carried the sense of magnificent ceremonial display. Shakespeare used it freely, and Elgar immortalised it in his Pomp and Circumstance marches.