montage

1 of 2

noun

mon·​tage män-ˈtäzh 

mōⁿ(n)-

1

: the production of a rapid succession of images in a movie to illustrate an association of ideas

2

a

: a literary, musical, or artistic composite (see composite entry 2 sense 1) of juxtaposed more or less heterogeneous elements

b

: a composite picture made by combining several separate pictures

3

: a heterogeneous mixture : jumble

a montage of emotions

a montage of sounds

montage

2 of 2

verb

montaged; montaging

transitive verb

: to combine into or depict in a montage

Synonyms

Noun

• collage
• medley
• assortment
• jumble
• variety

Examples of montage in a Sentence

Noun

a photographer who often uses montage in her pictures

my memories of the childhood trip are a montage of the sights, smells, and sounds of India

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Game night flies by in a montage — the crutch of comedies that can’t sustain conversations and jokes at the same time (or, to be fair, feel crunched for time). —Ben Travers, IndieWire, 23 Oct. 2025

Cooper visualizes Springsteen’s emotional and creative churn through black-and-white childhood flashbacks, and scenes of him driving around his old haunts in a muscle car, as well as tender montages of Bruce and Faye playing with her daughter at the boardwalk. —Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 23 Oct. 2025

Verb

Oppenheimer, about the father of the atomic bomb, was more quietly radical: The director, Christopher Nolan, told a complex story by montaging lots of vignette-like, TikTok-length scenes. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 5 May 2025

Among them were a video montaging victims of state violence that placed Anne Frank alongside the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. —Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 31 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French, "act of rising, act of moving things to a higher place, assembly of a mechanism from its components, editing of film shots to make a coherent whole," from monter "to climb, get up onto (a horse), move to a higher place, assemble from component parts, assemble (film shots) into a coherent whole" (going back to Old French, "to climb, get up onto a horse, set up") + -age — more at mount entry 2

Verb

derivative of montage entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1944, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for montage

• barrage
• collage
• corsage
• dressage
• garage
• massage
• mirage
• swaraj
• arbitrage
• camouflage
• entourage
• sabotage

Kids Definition

montage

noun

mon·​tage

män-ˈtäzh,

mōn-

1

: an artistic composition made up of several different kinds of items (as strips of newspaper, pictures, bits of wood) arranged together

2

: a rapid succession of distinct scenes or images in a motion picture to illustrate associated ideas