mummery
Americannoun
plural
mummeries-
the performance of mummers.
-
any performance, ceremony, etc., regarded as absurd, false, or ostentatious.
noun
-
a performance by mummers
-
hypocritical or ostentatious ceremony
Etymology
Origin of mummery
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But what was once the norm can now seem a kind of ableist mummery, which this production attempts to sidestep by offering a Richard with no physical impairments at all.
From New York Times • Jul. 11, 2022
Typically, contemporary novelists speak reverently of their form, as if the result were some kind of sacred object, so Alice’s position has a refreshing lack of mummery.
From Slate • Sep. 1, 2021
“You know what that means,” is all he offered, and, after an evening of portentous headgear mummery, this hint at abdication should not be taken lightly.
From Slate • Dec. 20, 2019
It's all mummery and flummery, and conducted with a winning amateurishness.
From The Guardian • Oct. 1, 2012
But he was sick of mummery, so instead he grimaced, signed^ and handed the scroll back to Brown Ben.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
