What does cavalcade mean?
Word: Cavalcade
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Cavalcade means a long line of riders or vehicles moving along together, often as part of a ceremony.
How do you spell cavalcade?
Syllables: cav - al - cade
Tricky part: The last beat rhymes with made, but pupils sometimes spell it the way they spell paid and write cavalcaid.
Watch out for: cavalcaid, cavalcayd
Memory tip: A cavalcade is a kind of parade, and the two words finish alike.
Cavalcade in a sentence
Example 1: A cavalcade of vintage cars rolled along the seafront on Sunday morning.
Example 2: The champions rode through London in a cavalcade of open-top buses.
Example 3: Children waved flags as the cavalcade of horses and riders passed the town hall.
Fun Fact
The word began with horses: it traces back through French and Italian to a Latin word for a horse. Today a cavalcade can be made up of motorcycles or floats, with not a hoof in sight.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word cavalcade as used in the sentence:
The mayor's cavalcade moved slowly down the High Street towards the stadium.
a) competition
b) breakdown
c) shortage
d) procession
Show answer
d) procession. A procession is a line of people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly way.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
A long cavelcade of tractors decorated with marigolds moved slowly past the school on the morning of the harvest fair.
a) marigolds
b) harvest
c) tractors
d) cavelcade
Show answer
d) cavelcade. The vowel straight after the v is a.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
A cheerful caaeadvcl of decorated bullock carts wound through the streets of the old town.
a) escapade
b) masquerade
c) cavalcade
d) cavalier
Show answer
c) cavalcade. Two c's and three a's belong to just one of these words.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. cavalkade 2. pageant 3. spectacle 4. grandeur
a) great beauty and splendour
b) an impressive sight or event
c) a public show, often about history
d) a grand moving display of horses or motor vehicles
Show answer
d) a grand moving display of horses or motor vehicles. A c, not a k, opens the last beat; pageant, spectacle and grandeur are all correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these could NOT be described with this word?
a) a string of camels with their riders
b) one cyclist riding to school
c) forty motorbikes on a charity ride
d) twelve floats in a town carnival
Show answer
b) one cyclist riding to school
2. Spectators at such an event would most likely stand:
a) along the route
b) inside a theatre
c) at a ticket counter
d) behind a stage curtain
Show answer
a) along the route
