cortege

noun

cor·​tege kȯr-ˈtezh 

ˈkȯr-ˌtezh

variants or less commonly cortège

1

: a train of attendants : retinue

2

: procession

especially : a funeral procession

Synonyms

• entourage
• following
• posse
• retinue
• suite
• tail
• train

Examples of cortege in a Sentence

the movie star's cortege included her hair stylist, makeup artist, personal assistant, and press agent

the funeral cortege of mourners stretched for three city blocks

Recent Examples on the Web

On Tuesday, several hearses and funeral corteges were seen at key locations in St. Petersburg, as local media scrambled to find the location of Prigozhin’s funeral. —Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2023

Israeli police are still investigating the circumstances of the deaths, which came after Hamas’s massacre of over 1,400 people a few days earlier, and the Israeli military had instructed the mayor to change the route of the cortege from the hospital to avoid inflaming the situation further. —Jared Malsin, WSJ, 2 Nov. 2023

Another funeral cortege with three hearses drew up at Beloostrovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, after it was seen at the manège of the First Cadet Corps, where security guards shooed away journalists and members of the public. —Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2023

After a private funeral, the cortege passed slowly through the seaside town where O'Connor had lived. —Harold Maass, The Week, 9 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

French cortège, from Italian corteggio, from corteggiare to court, from corte court, from Latin cohort-, cohors enclosure — more at court

First Known Use

1648, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

cortege

noun

cor·​tege

variants also cortège

kȯr-ˈtezh 

ˈkȯr-ˌtezh

1

: a group of attendants : retinue

2

: procession sense 2

especially : a funeral procession