Other forms: parades, paraded, parading
A parade is a line of people moving down a street for everybody else to watch. A brass band at the front, floats covered in paper flowers, children up on shoulders, the crowd three deep along the pavement.
The military kept the older, stricter version: soldiers stand on parade, march across a parade ground, and the parade there is an inspection rather than a party. As a verb it goes two ways. People parade through the streets, and people parade their wealth, their knowledge, their new boyfriend — showing off something they want seen. A parade of also means one thing after another: a parade of witnesses, a parade of excuses. In Britain, a parade of shops is a short row of them along one street, which puzzles visitors expecting a marching band.
1nounparadeA public procession of people walking or marching, watched by a crowd.~73%
“The parade came down the high street behind a brass band.”
synonyms: procession, pageant
2noungatheringA formal gathering of soldiers for inspection or marching.~19%
“The recruits stood on parade in the rain for an hour.”
3verbwalkTo walk or march in a procession.~2%
“The winners paraded round the pitch with the cup.”
4verbshowTo show something off deliberately.~2%
“He parades his knowledge of wine at every dinner.”
5nounlongA long series of people or things, one after another.~2%
“The morning brought a parade of excuses.”
6nounshortA short row of shops along a street. (British).~2%
“There is a chemist on the parade near the station.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 19 sentences found in the wild and placed 19 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
parade is a public procession.
Parade came from French parade, an ostentatious display, from parer — 'to beautify, prepare, take pride in'. Italian parata pushed it along, and behind both stands the Latin phrase magnō parātū, 'with great preparation'. Under every sense is the same idea: getting ready, then being seen.
Latin
magnō
Italian
parata — preparation, a military parade, an ostentatious display
French
parade — an ostentatious display, a military display
English, today
parade
Built from
From French parade (“an ostentatious display, a military display”), from parer (“to beautify, prepare, take pride in”) + -ade probably under influence from earlier Italian parata (“preparation, a military parade, an ostentatious display”) and Latin magnō parātū (“with great preparation”). Various senses similarly influenced by earlier French and Italian uses. a doublet of pare.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA