cabaret

cabaret — noun

1. a live show that mixes singing, dancing, and short comic acts, usually staged on

1.nounC1
Definition

a live show that mixes singing, dancing, and short comic acts, usually staged on a small platform while the audience eats or drinks at nearby tables.

Example

Diners at the Paris hotel watched a glittering cabaret while finishing dessert.

noun used uncountably for a stage show genre

Lina has been performing in cabaret in small Berlin clubs since she was seventeen.

collocation: perform in cabaret

Common collocations
  • perform in cabaret
  • late-night cabaret
  • political cabaret
  • a glittering cabaret
  • write cabaret
Synonyms
  • floor show

    more general; any live entertainment performed on a small stage in a restaurant

  • revue

    a longer theatrical show of songs and sketches; usually in a proper theatre, not over dinner

  • variety show

    broader mix of acts (magic, juggling, comedy); often on television

Grammar Patterns

a cabaret

do cabaret

perform in cabaret

Usage Note

Often used uncountably to name the genre or art form (perform in cabaret, write cabaret), and countably for one specific show (watched a cabaret). Distinguish from sense 2: this sense is the performance itself, not the place.

Common Mistakes

I went to a cabaret last night and the singer was great' (when meaning the show only).
The cabaret last night had a great singer.
fine if you mean the venue, but if you only saw the show, name the show, not the visit.

2. a small dining or drinking venue with a low stage near the tables, where custome

2.nounC1
Definition

a small dining or drinking venue with a low stage near the tables, where customers can watch live singing, dancing, or short comic acts while they eat.

Example

Sofia and her friends celebrated her birthday at a cabaret near the harbour.

preposition: at a cabaret

After the war, Mr. Klein opened a small cabaret on a quiet side street in Vienna.

collocation: open a cabaret

Common collocations
  • at a cabaret
  • open a cabaret
  • famous cabarets
  • a small cabaret
  • the cabaret on [street]
Synonyms
  • nightclub

    broader; mainly for dancing and drinking, with or without a live show

  • supper club

    American; emphasises the full meal alongside the entertainment

  • music hall

    older British term; a larger theatre-style venue, not table seating

Grammar Patterns

go to a cabaret

at a cabaret

open a cabaret

Usage Note

Subject is usually a person or group going to or running the place; very often appears with a preposition (at, in, outside, near). Distinguish from sense 1: here the word names the building or business, not the show staged inside it.

Common Mistakes

She works in a cabaret as a singer' meaning the show genre.
She works in cabaret as a singer.
drop 'a' when you mean the art form, keep it when you mean a specific venue.

Word family

  • cabaretier
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four describe live stage entertainment built from short, mixed acts, but the setting and tone differ. A cabaret is intimate: a small stage in a restaurant or club, with the audience seated at tables, often eating and drinking, and the material may be sharp, sexy, or politically pointed. A revue is more theatrical, performed in a proper theatre with rows of seats, longer in length and usually focused on songs and sketches that follow a loose theme. A variety show is the broadest term, packing in singers, magicians, jugglers, and comedians, and is most associated with television. A floor show is the closest cousin to cabaret, naming any live act performed on a low stage in a restaurant or hotel, but without cabaret's artistic edge. So you might say, 'The hotel has a polite floor show every Friday, but the bold cabaret next door is what locals talk about.'

cabaret ↗revuevariety showfloor show

Common collocations

Nouns

  • cabaret singer
  • cabaret act
  • cabaret club
  • cabaret dancer
  • cabaret scene

Phrases

  • dinner and a cabaret
  • the golden age of cabaret

Prepositions

  • at a cabaret
  • in cabaret
  • outside the cabaret

Etymology

Middle DutchOld Picard / WalloonFrenchEnglish

English borrowed cabaret from French in the late 1600s, when it simply meant a tavern or small inn that served wine and food. The French word probably came through Old Picard or Walloon from a medieval Dutch or Flemish word meaning 'small room' or 'wooden shed'. The modern sense of a venue offering live music, dancing, and comic acts on a small stage appeared in Paris around 1900 — the Chat Noir in Montmartre is often credited as the first — and that artistic meaning was carried into English by the 1910s. The narrower sense of the show itself (sense 1) grew naturally out of the venue sense soon after.