1British a theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas: [as modifier]:a pantomime villain [mass noun]:he is currently appearing in pantomime in Manchester
2a dramatic entertainment, originating in Roman mime, in which performers express meaning through gestures accompanied by music.
3an absurdly exaggerated piece of behaviour:he made a pantomime of checking his watch
an absurd or confused situation:the drive to town was a pantomime
verb
[with object]
express or represent by exaggerated mime:they pantomimed picking up dropped food
late 16th century (first used in the Latin form and denoting an actor using mime): from French pantomime or Latin pantomimus, from Greek pantomimos 'imitator of all' (see panto-, mime)
pantomime in other Oxford dictionaries
Definition of pantomime in the US English dictionary
