Tableaus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A vivid and striking presentation of a scene or story, often in artistic form
2. a group of models or people arranged in a visual display to convey a particular moment
3. a static scene that captures or illustrates a narrative or theme through composition and expression

Etymology: "Tableaus" is the plural of "tableau," so its history is that of the singular. The word was taken directly from French, where "tableau" meant a painted panel or picture, and it still keeps its French spelling and sense of a flat, framed image. The French word descends from Old French "tablel," a surface used mainly for painting, which points back to the same idea of a board or table as a painting surface. The modern sense of a frozen, staged scene came later, when the word was applied to a group of people posed silently to represent a moment from a story or a theme. The English plural is usually written "tableaus," though "tableaux" keeps the French plural and is also accepted.

Synonyms: scenes, pictures, displays