cavalcade

noun

cav·​al·​cade ˌka-vəl-ˈkād 

ˈka-vəl-ˌkād

1

a

: a procession (see procession entry 1 sense 1) of riders or carriages

b

: a procession of vehicles or ships

2

: a dramatic sequence or procession : series

a cavalcade of natural disasters

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The History of Cavalcade

Cavalcade is a word with deep equestrian roots, though it comes (via French and possibly Italian) from a Latin word (caballus, meaning “work horse” or “gelding”) that displaced equestrian’s Latin ancestor, equus, as a neutral word for horse in Romance languages. In the 17th century, cavalcade was used specifically to refer to a procession of horseback riders or carriages, especially as part of a special occasion, whether joyous or funereal. Over time, that meaning was extended to processions of other modes of travel, including ships, vehicles, or even paraders on foot or float (as invoked by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith in his song “Rose Parade” with the lyric “a wink and a wave from the cavalcade”). As a cavalcade of words before and since have done, cavalcade also took on a figurative sense to refer to a series of related things, whether or not they happen to be marching (or trotting) down the road.

Synonyms

• armada
• caravan
• fleet
• line
• motorcade
• train

Examples of cavalcade in a Sentence

The cavalcade arrived at the hotel.

a cavalcade of antique cars

a cavalcade of natural disasters

Recent Examples on the Web

The bulk of Apple’s knowledge base article is nothing more than a choose-your-adventure cavalcade of countries. —Steven Aquino, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024

The ever-intense Brian Thompson brings his usual 150 percent to the role of Shao-Kahn, but the cavalcade of forgettable new game characters like Jade, Sindel, and Reptile is too much of a burden. —Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2024

Directed by Shawn Levy, the Marvel sequel stars Reynolds and Jackman, plus Emma Corrin, Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen and a cavalcade of surprise A-list cameos. —Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 28 July 2024

The cavalcade of cameos reaches a peak of giddy delirium when next week’s host, Ryan Gosling, pops up in the monologue. —Joe Berkowitz, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, probably borrowed from Italian cavalcata "journey made by horse, group riding horseback, procession of riders accompanying a distinguished person, or formed on the occasion of a ceremony," from cavalcare "to ride horseback" (going back to Late Latin caballicāre, from Latin caballus "work horse, gelding" + Latin -icāre, verb formative) + -ata, suffix of action and result; caballus, of obscure origin, perhaps a loanword from a language of the Balkans or Anatolia — more at -ade

Note: The French word probably belongs with other loanwords dealing with military and equestrian matters taken from Italian in the late 15th and 16th centuries, though early instances may also derive from Occitan cavalcada, already attested by ca. 1300. — The earliest evidence for the etymon of caballus is a Greek personal name Kaballâs in a 4th-century b.c. inscription from Ephesus; kaballeîon "work horse" is attested a century later in an inscription from Callatis on the Black Sea coast of southeastern Romania. Neither the word nor any derivative became generally used in Byzantine or Modern Greek. Latin caballus is first attested in a line from a satire of Gaius Lucilius (2nd century b.c.), where it has a definite derogatory connotation: "succusatoris taetri tardique caballi" ("of a jolter, a foul, slow caballus"). In the Romance languages caballus displaced classical Latin equus (descended from the Indo-European etymon; see equine) as a neutral word for a horse, though the progeny of the feminine form equa continued in use in some areas as a word for "mare" (Old French ive, ieve, Spanish yegua, Portuguese egoa, Romanian iapă, etc.). As a loanword into Insular Celtic languages, caballus appears to have had a variant *cappil(l)us (whence Old Irish capall, Welsh ceffyl). Inviting comparison with caballus are a number of words more remote in phonetic form, which cannot be reduced to a single borrowed source: Old Church Slavic kobyla "mare" (in all Slavic languages, as Russian kobýla, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian kòbila, etc.; a loanword and not an internal Slavic formation according to Oleg Trubačev, Proisxoždenie nazvanij domašnix životnyx v slavjanskix jazykax, Moscow, 1960); kevel "well-bred fast horse" in the medieval Turkic dialect recorded in the dictionary of Maḥmūd al-Kāšġarī (11th century); Finnish heponen "horse," Estonian hobu, hobune.

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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Kids Definition

cavalcade

noun

cav·​al·​cade ˌkav-əl-ˈkād 

ˈkav-əl-ˌkād

1

: a procession especially of riders or carriages

2

: a dramatic series (as of related events)