tableau

[ ta-bloh, tab-loh ]

noun

, plural tab·leaux [ta-, blohz, tab, -lohz], tab·leaus.

1. a picture, as of a scene.
2. a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.
3. a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed.
4. Solitaire. the portion of a layout to which one may add cards according to suit or denomination.

tableau

/ ˈtæbləʊ /

noun

1. See tableau vivant
2. a pause during or at the end of a scene on stage when all the performers briefly freeze in position
3. any dramatic group or scene
4. logic short for semantic tableau

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French: “board, picture,” Middle French tablel, diminutive of table table

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau¹

C17: from French, from Old French tablel a picture, diminutive of table

Example Sentences

Even tableaux of destruction compel the eye, less war as spectacle than some horrific inverse of the creative process.

From Los Angeles Times

Each society spends months producing an effigy - or tableau - which are paraded through the streets and then burned at the bonfire sites.

From BBC

Close by, another puja creates a tableau of the bereaved family, the mother sitting on the bed, the father at a sewing machine, their daughter’s picture in doctor’s scrubs on the wall.

From BBC

For the viewer, that guesswork is eliminated by the macabre tableau to which she’s referring.

From Salon

It was a tableau of a distinctly modern American family: mixed race, interfaith and blended, a mosaic of national origins, cultures and values.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• illustration
• spectacle