ostentation

Noun

ostentation (usually uncountable, plural ostentations)

1. (usually) Ambitious display; vain show; display intended to excite admiration or applause.
   • Sir Henry had consumed his substance in ostentation and riotous hospitality—had fed many at his board, made many merry in his halls, but not a friend was in his house of mourning; the very retainers who had grown rich upon his ruin, seemed to deem the burial of their master but a signal for...1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 24–25
2. (collective, usually) A group of peafowl.
   • At times there are more than 100 deer on his property and an ostentation of peacocks.2001, Business India, A.H. Advani, page 16
   • A full ostentation of peahens who it appeared had been drawn in by the sight of me in my feathered coat, mistaking me for an actual peacock!2021, Sam Downes, Claude Des Forges, Fashion Follies, Rectangle Books
3. (obsolete, usually) A show or spectacle.
   • Let her awhile be secretly kept in,
     And publish it that she is dead indeed:
     Maintain a mourning ostentation1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...