Definition of "ostentation" noun usually uncountable , plural ostentations
Ambitious display ; vain show ; display intended to excite admiration or applause . quotations examples
Quotations 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 carousing and license .
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], pages 24–25
(obsolete) A show or spectacle . quotations
Quotations Let her awhile be secretly kept in ,And publish it that she is dead indeed :Maintain a mourning ostentation ;
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]