Cavalcade is a word that has been in use since the 1640s. We will examine the meaning of the word cavalcade, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.
A cavalcade is a long procession of people marching, riding in vehicles or on horses. The word cavalcade may be used to describe a physical procession or a procession of events, situations or ideas. In the 1640s, the original meaning of the word cavalcade was an attack or campaign made on horseback. The meaning of cavalcade softened to simply mean a long procession of horseback riders, and eventually any long procession. The word cavalcade is derived from the Italian word cavalcata which means to ride on a horse, derived from the Latin caballus meaning horse. The plural form of cavalcade is cavalcades.
Examples
“The Cavalcade of Bands provides those who attend each year with a great picture of what happens instrumentally in our district,” Briggs said. (The Finger Lakes Times)
A cavalcade of about 50 vehicles passed from the district and the foremost vehicle had Bhai’s remains which were kept for people to have a look at the activist’s remains. (The Tribune India)
The variety show will feature a cavalcade of the school’s famous alumni, including “Saturday Night Live” alums Ana Gasteyer and Gary Kroeger, “Bad Moms” star Kathryn Hahn and “The Blacklist” actor Harry Lennix. (The Chicago Sun Times)
The Shawshank Redemption found uplift in suicide and incarceration, M*A*S*H retroactively transformed the Korean War into a goonish cavalcade of knockabout high jinks, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull managed to take the decade’s constant palpable fear of comprehensive nuclear obliteration and leverage it into a vehicle for slapstick fridge jokes. (The Guardian)