Vanity Fair

noun

1. (in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress ) a fair that goes on perpetually in the town of Vanity and symbolizes worldly ostentation and frivolity.
2. (often lowercase) any place or group, as the world or fashionable society, characterized by or displaying a preoccupation with idle pleasures or ostentation.
3. (italics) a novel (1847–48) by Thackeray.

Vanity Fair

noun

1. literary.
   often not capitals the social life of a community, esp of a great city, or the world in general, considered as symbolizing worldly frivolity

Vanity Fair

1. (1847–1848) A novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray. The leading character is Becky Sharp, an unscrupulous woman who gains wealth and influence by her cleverness.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Vanity Fair¹

from Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress