Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Music A loud flourish of brass instruments, especially trumpets.
  • noun A spectacular public display.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In bookbinding, an erratic or eccentric style of decoration which purposely avoids regular or geometrical design.
  • noun A flourish of trumpets, either in hunting, in martial assemblages, or in the course of a musical work; a noisy flourish.
  • noun Hence An ostentatious parade or boast; bravado.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A flourish of trumpets, as in coming into the lists, etc.; also, a short and lively air performed on hunting horns during the chase.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable A flourish of trumpets or horns as to announce; a short and lively air performed on hunting horns during the chase.
  • noun uncountable A show of ceremony or celebration.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a gaudy outward display
  • noun (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, possibly of imitative origin.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Two elves at the front of the sleigh blew a trumpet fanfare. -Websters Dictionary pg. 29

    September 24, 2010

  • Uses of these methods appear in the cartographic literature without fanfare.

    Her university application stories come out merely as a fanfare.

    April 1, 2018