Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A short performance, typically a ballet, that is presented as an interlude in an opera or play.
- n. Music See divertimento.
- n. A diversion; an amusement.
Wiktionary
- n. An entertaining diversion
- n. ballet A short ballet within a larger work, usually providing a break from the main plot
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A short ballet, or other entertainment, between the acts of a play.
Etymologies
- French, from divertir, to divert, from Old French; see divert. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The divertissement is a happy coda to the drama, and a standard device of 19th-century classical ballet.”
“Let's remember the facts as we watch this play out: Osama bin Laden is still at large, Iraq has been devastated, and our government is treating us to a little "divertissement" with some monkey trials.”
“It always makes trouble, and it is a very expensive divertissement.”
“In the divertissement of The Dying Swan Madame Pavlova was again in white, but she invested its neutrality with a completely new expression — that of tragedy.”
“Some directorial conceits—such as introducing characters playing a visiting dance troupe to give meaning to the closing act's traditional divertissement—are something of a stretch, but they don't derail the ballet's narrative.”
The Wall Street Journal: Neapolitan Sunshine Brightens Danish Gloom
“The quartet complies fully with that aeronautic directive during the second act, in a divertissement billed ominously as the Wheel of Death.”
“The marketplace scene, with its bustling environment, would have seemed a natural opportunity to present acrobatic acts and the like in a ballet divertissement tradition, but only random, brief examples occurred.”
The Wall Street Journal: From Controversial Epic to a Generic Flower
“The sport, which was dreamed up in the '30s as a Depression divertissement, regularly has booms and busts.”
“Pascal concluded that divertissement, or diversion, had become the chief role of popular culture.”
The Huffington Post: Embracing the New: Avoiding a Routinized Life
“The dramaturgy of the opera is fairly static, and everyone stood and sang; only a pair of dancers (Yvette Tucker and Seth Belliston), interpreting a lengthy divertissement about a pair of doves who marry, did much moving around.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘divertissement’.
-
Another 250 Spelling Words
Another range of words from the intermediate to the advanced speller's level.
cherimoya, parthenogenesis, sommelier, bupkis, kichel, voulge, indivisibility, retiarius, sewellel, vihuela, ossature, jalfrezi and 238 more...
-
Words to make you sound smart
duality, hence, inference, deduce, juxtapose, mundane, gregarious, plight, esoteric, austere, encompass, subsidize and 17 more...
-
colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
-
NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
-
The Spectacle
DISTRACT, STARE, CONSUME
(repeat)gongoozler, television, sporting events, blockbuster, alienation, situationist, technocapitalism, media extravaganza, sex scandal, hypnotic behavior, fantastic visions, prime time and 164 more...
-
Favorite Foreign Words
cacahuatl, soixante, betelgeuse, tchotchke, tsetse, eau, que, aufgezeignet, xocoatl, quetzalcoatl, prosek, da and 82 more...
-
Types of Song
Different names for musical pieces.
cadenza, sonata, concerto, cavatina, waltz, mazurka, gavotte, kujawiak, minuet, canon, aria, divertissement and 7 more...
-
mmmarilyn's Words
bibliophile, sangfroid, menace, susurrus, raconteur, odyssey, bedraggled, rapacious, slattern, merkin, moxie, travelogue and 15 more...
-
Fun-Fun
Festivals, holidays and assorted convivialities. Maybe even games.
chúxì, songkran, ramadhan, hogmanay, vesak, winternights, diwali, eid, halloween, bloomsday, april fools' day, festa dei ceri and 39 more...
-
Words are useful
philatelic, philately, resistentialism, borborygmus, introit, oblate, pillory, peccant, capon, piquant, puissance, prevaricate and 67 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for divertissement.
andydarby I like this word a lot or at least I did once I looked up the definition - but I think we should drop an 's' and create a new word, that conveys the POV of the person who enjoys being subjected to advertising beautifully. Apr 1, 2008