ostentations

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
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]...