Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use pantomime in a sentence

18 example sentences · noun, verb

Pantomime means a Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime. Example: “I pantomimed steering a car; he understood, and tossed the keys to me.”

Examples of pantomime by meaning

nounA traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children...

  • With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2015
  • Wilson is no stranger to pantoland: “I have fun memories of seeing pantomimes in Australia when I was a kid.2025 November 28, Hollie Richardson, “Oh yes he is! Kiefer Sutherland dives into the world of panto”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from...

nounThe act of gesturing without speaking; a dumb-show, a mime.

  • In pantomime, Chief Joyi would fling his spear and creep along the veld as he narrated the victories and defeats.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 26

verbTo make (a gesture) without speaking.

  • I pantomimed steering a car; he understood, and tossed the keys to me.

More sentences with pantomime

  • The entrancement of a child by the bright lights and other paraphernalia of a pantomime is a magical sight.From the entry entrancement
  • The pantomime features an all-star cast.From the entry all-star
  • Let's begin with the pantomime villain that everyone seemingly loves to hate, Elon Musk.2023 April 12, “Good and Bad PR: Pantomime villain Musk does good! Unilever, not so much...”, in PR Moment. From the entry pantomime villain
  • He went through a pantomime of examining a joint of meat, with goatish sniffs.1934, George Orwell, chapter 7, in Burmese Days. From the entry goatish
  • The news will likely please many, as Mateu Lahoz has become something of a pantomime villain over the festive period.5 January 2023, “Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz put 'in the fridge' for card-happy performances”, in OneFootball. From the entry pantomime villain
  • Bell argued that the manual approach was "backwards," and harkened to a primitive age where humans used gesture and pantomime.2005, Carol Padden, Tom L. Humphries, Inside Deaf Culture, page 48. From the entry harken
  • Some of the so-called best people in the profession are using the shimmy shake in song, dance and pantomime.1930, Jefferis & Nichols, Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, page 209. From the entry shimmy shake
  • Birdsong, who followed the Colombian, stopped his hymn singing at this lickerish pantomime and watched his fellow muleteer in righteous disapproval.1922, T. S. Stribling, “The Web of the Sun”, in Adventure, Chapter 3. From the entry lickerish
  • Harry Slogden, which is one of the features of the Drury Lane pantomime, and promises to be a very successful number.[1919 December 31, “Pantomime Song Hits. All the Winners. [West and Co.’s Pantomime Features.]”, in The Era, volume 83, number 4,241…. From the entry plinky-plonky
  • And Bronwyn’s bed broke down. (Like in the funny part of a pantomime!) Perhaps its component parts had never really been screwn together.1917, G[ladys] B[ronwyn] Stern, Grand Chain, London: Nisbet & Co. Ltd. […], →OCLC, page 194. From the entry screwn
  • In just a few rehearsed gestures — a finger point, a pantomimed bat swing — Dastmalchian clues us in that he’s playing a shell hollowed out by ambition.2024 March 21, Amy Nicholson, “Review: A talk show goes horribly wrong in sly ‘Late Night With the Devil’ review”, in Los Angeles Times…. From the entry finger point
  • “What I don’t see is,” he said, “why we had to go through all this rigmarole with you dressing up as a pantomime lioness and changing clothes and everything.2018, Ronald McGowan, The Return of the Achaeans, →ISBN, page 133. From the entry pharaohess
  • Charlie, now menacingly equipped with a bionic arm, is these days in the service of new pantomime big bad, Poppy Adams, played with lysergic glee by Julianne Moore.2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the…. From the entry big bad
  • Several patients, after repeated experience of echopraxia and pantomime, had the delusion that they could communicate with others without using words—merely transmitting ideas by a bodily movement.1966, The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 112, Royal Medico-Psychological Association, page 241. From the entry echopraxia

Meaning of pantomime

  1. noun A Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime.
  2. noun The drama in ancient Greece and Rome featuring such performers; or (later) any of various kinds of performance modelled on such work.
  3. noun A traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children and involving physical comedy, topical jokes, call and response, and fairy-tale plots.

Full definition of pantomime

Questions about pantomime in a sentence

How do you use pantomime in a sentence?
Pantomime is used as a noun and verb. For example: “I pantomimed steering a car; he understood, and tossed the keys to me.”
What is a short sentence with pantomime?
“The pantomime features an all-star cast.”
What does pantomime mean?
Pantomime means a Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pantomime (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use pantomime in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pantomime. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.