tableau

[ta-bloh, tab-loh]

noun

plural

tableaux, tableaus 

1. a picture, as of a scene.

2. a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.

3. a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed.

4. Solitaire.,  the portion of a layout to which one may add cards according to suit or denomination.

tableau

/ ˈtæbləʊ /

noun

1. See tableau vivant

2. a pause during or at the end of a scene on stage when all the performers briefly freeze in position

3. any dramatic group or scene

4. logic short for semantic tableau

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French: “board, picture,” Middle French tablel, diminutive of table table

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau¹

C17: from French, from Old French tablel a picture, diminutive of _table

Example Sentences

The youngest of those players is 52 and has hasn’t played for a dozen seasons, giving the whole tableau the feel of a tattered and worn museum exhibition.

From Los Angeles Times

Polaroids, knick knacks and mementos are carefully arranged in various tableaus — much as he left them.

From Los Angeles Times

In a show full of detailed tableaux, this was perhaps the most striking.

From Los Angeles Times

In hindsight, the moment feels like a Rosetta Stone for his political aesthetics: a kind of populist cosplay that collapses grandeur and banality into the same tableau.

From Salon

“Los Angeles is often seen as an endless tableau of individual houses, each with their own yard and garden,” Max Podemski, an L.A.-based urban planner, wrote in The Times last year.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• illustration 
• spectacle