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''promenade'' ▫ᴱᴺ|Definition|1st|20260904152658-00-⌔

promenade - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

promenade (plural promenades)

  • (formal) A prom (dance).
  • A walk taken for pleasure, display, or exercise; a stroll.
    • ✤ *they told him to think no more of the matter, and to try his fortune in another promenade *1
    • His morning promenade.2
    • Down in the arena, though, it was business as semi-normal with the band members making their traditional promenade through the crowd to a small in-the-round stage with a colourful player piano taking up most of the room.3
  • A place where one takes a walk for leisurely pleasure, or for exercise, especially a terrace by the seaside.
    • ✤ Synonyms: esplanade, parade
    • The present dream in particular scarcely left any room for doubt, since the place where my patient fell was the Graben, a part of Vienna notorious as a promenade for prostitutes.4
    • By one o’clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.5
    • Haussmann’s remodelling brought about the boulevards, the building lots, the promenades and street planting that remain inimitably characteristic of Paris.6
  • A dance motion consisting of a walk, done while square dancing.

Verb

promenade (third-person singular simple present promenades, present participle promenading, simple past and past participle promenaded)

  • To walk for amusement, show, or exercise.
    • ✤ Synonym: parade
    • “The times are changed,” said De Joinville, in a low tone to Francesca, “since Mademoiselle promenaded the terraces of the Louvre, with her fan ornamented with bunches of straw tied with blue riband, and half Paris shouting at the sight.”7
    • “It is time again for Staten Island’s annual puppy parade.” “Which is always a barking good time. Here’s hoping we have some nice weather for these promenading pooches.”8
  • To perform the stylized walk of a square dance.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French promenade, from promener (“to walk”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈpɹɒm.əˌnɑːd/, /ˌpɹɒm.əˈnɑːd/, /ˌpɹɒm.əˈneɪd/, (rare)/ˈpɹɒm.əˌneɪd/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (US) IPA: /ˌpɹɑm.əˈneɪd/, /ˌpɹɑm.əˈnɑd/
  • Audio (General American): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɑːd, -eɪd

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

  1. 1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]:

  2. 1921, Charles Chaplin, The Kid:

  3. 2022 September 6, Fiona Shepherd, “Music review: Arcade Fire, Hydro, Glasgow”, in The Scotsman:

  4. 1900, Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, page 235:

  5. 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:

  6. 2001, Alan Tate, “Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris”, in Great City Parks, London; New York, N.Y.: Spon Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 47, column 1:

  7. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 298–299:

  8. 2023 August 3, Sarah Naftalis, “Local News” (21:24 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 5, spoken by Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak):

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