Definition of panoply
panoplies
1a : a full suit of armor Knights in panoply were ready for battle.b : ceremonial attire The nobles were in panoply for the coronation.
2 : something forming a protective covering faces dim in a panoply of smoke — William Baucke
3a : a magnificent or impressive array the full panoply of a military funeral woods … in their full panoply of autumn foliage — S. P. B. Maisb : a display of all appropriate appurtenances no need for the panoply of power windows … beyond which the usual panoply of modern mechanical conveniences can brazenly flourish — Lewis Mumford
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panoply was our Word of the Day on 03/26/2007. Hear the podcast!
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Recent Examples of panoply from the Web
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First there’s the necessary mastery of a whole panoply of skills, from speechmaking to fund-raising to thinking on your feet.
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A full panoply of unregulated market choices for health care, for example, would be insanely confusing to people without sophisticated knowledge of insurance and medicine.
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European officials have long argued that the agreement was intended only to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, not the panoply of other issues.
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The building Calciano owned for over 30 years is now home to a panoply of diverse tastes: Antonio's Pizza, a Pakistani eatery, a Latin bakery and Japanese restaurant.
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Morgin’s entire enterprise begins there, with clay masquerading as a panoply of other substances, and keeps going, pushing deep into emotional, psychological and sociological territory.
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For the first time, within the panoply of religious groups in the US, not one now has a majority who thinks it’s OK for vendors to refuse service for religious reasons, a Public Religion Research Institute survey found.
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But AR can also be used to subtract items from view and help consumers focus on specific objects lost in panoply of visual clutter.
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Fittingly, his wonderfully multifarious work drew — often simultaneously — from a panoply of familiar and foreign (at least to many Western listeners) traditions.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'panoply.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Panoply comes from the Greek word panoplia, which referred to the full suit of armor worn by "hoplites," heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece. "Panoplia" is a blend of the prefix pan-, meaning "all," and hopla, meaning "arms" or "armor." (As you may have guessed already, "hopla" is also an ancestor of "hoplite.") "Panoply" entered the English language in the 17th century, and since then it has developed other senses which extend both the "armor" and the "full set" aspects of its original use.
Origin and Etymology of panoply
Greek panoplia, from pan- + hopla arms, armor, plural of hoplon tool, weapon — more at hoplite
Other History Terms
PANOPLY Defined for English Language Learners
panoply
playDefinition of panoply for English Language Learners
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: a group or collection that is impressive because it is so big or because it includes so many different kinds of people or things
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