exhibition

 
Pronunciation: /ɛksɪˈbɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

  • 1a public display of works of art or items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair: an exhibition of French sculpture [mass noun]: he never lent his treasures out for exhibition
  • 2a display or demonstration of a skill: fields which have been ploughed with a supreme exhibition of the farm worker’s skills
  • a display of a quality or emotion: a false exhibition of concern for smaller nations
  • 3 [usually as modifier] (in sport) a game whose outcome does not affect a team’s standing, typically one played before the start of a regular season: an exhibition match
  • 4British a scholarship awarded to a student at a school or university, usually after a competitive examination: Brasenose awarded him a senior Hulme exhibition

Phrases

make an exhibition of oneself

behave in a very foolish or ill-judged way in public: she looked around the bar to see if she was making an exhibition of herself

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'maintenance, support'; hence exhibition (sense 4), mid 17th century): via Old French from late Latin exhibitio(n-), from Latin exhibere 'hold out' (see exhibit)