noun
tableau
TAB-loh/ˈtæˌbloʊ/
A striking scene or arrangement, often formed by motionless people.
The actors freeze in a dramatic tableau as the curtain rises.
Etymology
A diminutive of a word for a slab or writing tablet came to mean a picture or painting. An arranged scene is thus a tableau when it presents itself like a composed picture.
In context
working towards what would be the tableau, the picture,
But on the back we have this amazing tableau, or again, a storyboard of a battle scene.
More examples
- Morning light turns the crowded kitchen into a golden tableau.
- The dancers end their performance with a tableau of raised arms.
- The museum's tableaux depict everyday life in a frontier town.
Forms
tableau · tableaux · tableaus
Similar words
- scene
- A broader term that does not imply striking visual composition.
- vignette
- A small, evocative scene, often described rather than physically arranged.