What does pantomime mean?
Word: Pantomime
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Pantomime means a comedy show for the stage, full of music, dancing and jokes, that retells a fairy tale; in Britain it is put on in the winter holiday season. It can also mean acting out a story with movements and faces instead of words, or a silly, muddled situation.
Synonyms: mime
Word origin: Came into English through French and Latin, from a Greek word for an actor who could imitate anything.
How do you spell pantomime?
Syllables: pan - to - mime
Tricky part: The ending is where most spellers slip. They write it as if it rhymed with line or mine, but it is the same as the word for acting without speaking.
Watch out for: pantomine, pantomim
Memory tip: Picture a silent mime artist taking the final bow, because the show ends with mime too.
Pantomime in a sentence
Example 1: Our drama club staged a pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk, and the parents laughed all the way through.
Example 2: My aunt in Birmingham takes her children to a pantomime every year as a family treat.
Example 3: Without saying a word, Arjun used pantomime to show his team that he was rowing a boat.
Fun Fact
In a traditional British pantomime, the comic older lady, called the dame, is usually played by a man, and a pantomime horse is often two actors sharing one costume, one at the front and one at the back.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
p_nt_mime
a) a, a
b) a, o
c) e, o
d) e, a
Show answer
b) a, o. The word starts like pan and panda, and the faint middle vowel is an o, easy to miss because it is barely said.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
On our winter holiday in Manchester, my cousins took us to a cheerful mtepoiamn of Aladdin at the local theatre.
a) palindrome
b) pantaloons
c) pantomime
d) panorama
Show answer
c) pantomime. Panorama has an r, palindrome an l and a d, and pantaloons an l and an s, so only one option uses exactly these nine letters.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word pantomime as used in the sentence:
The prize-giving turned into a pantomime when the microphone, the lights and the stage curtain all failed at once.
a) victory
b) contest
c) lecture
d) farce
Show answer
d) farce. A farce is an event so muddled that it becomes silly, which is what the prize-giving turned into.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning.
1. sceanery 2. pantomime 3. rehersal 4. orkestra
a) a practice of a play or concert before the real performance
b) the painted backgrounds and other pieces used on a stage
c) a large group of musicians who play many instruments together
d) a family stage show that turns an old children's story into comedy
Show answer
d) a family stage show that turns an old children's story into comedy. Rehearsal has ear in its middle, orchestra begins with orch, and scenery has no a after the e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. During a pantomime, the audience is invited to shout warnings to the hero. What does this tell you about the show?
a) It is a talk about the history of acting.
b) It is a concert for trained singers only.
c) It is meant to be noisy and fun for families.
d) It is a serious play watched in silence.
Show answer
c) It is meant to be noisy and fun for families.
2. Rohan's teacher asks him to tell a story in pantomime. What must he do?
a) act it out with gestures and faces, not words
b) read it aloud slowly from a printed book
c) write it down as a short poem that rhymes
d) sing it to a tune that everyone knows
Show answer
a) act it out with gestures and faces, not words
