mummery

[ muhm-uh-ree ]
See synonyms for mummery on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural mum·mer·ies.
  1. the performance of mummers.

  2. any performance, ceremony, etc., regarded as absurd, false, or ostentatious.

Origin of mummery

1
First recorded in 1520–30; mummer + -y3

Words Nearby mummery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mummery in a sentence

  • At the domino mask they fetched I hesitated, for anything like mummery of this sort was always repugnant to me.

    The Way of a Man | Emerson Hough
  • When next he saw her, she would have forgotten her priests and their mummery; she would think only of him and live only for him.

    Plashers Mead | Compton Mackenzie
  • Indeed, no religious rites exist among them, unless the unmeaning mummery of the medicine tent can be looked upon as such.

    Hudson Bay | R.M. Ballantyne
  • Heyward possessed some knowledge of the mummery practised among the Indians, in the cases of such supposed visitations.

    The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper
  • And smile not either—lest I spoil the symmetry of that face for your monkish mummery and processions.

    Joan of the Sword Hand | S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett

British Dictionary definitions for mummery

mummery

/ (ˈmʌmərɪ) /


nounplural -meries
  1. a performance by mummers

  2. hypocritical or ostentatious ceremony

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012