Word of the Day!

divertissement [dih-vur-tis-muhnt; French dee-ver-tees-mahn]

noun:
1 a diversion or entertainment
2 a short ballet or other performance serving as an interlude in a play, opera, etc
3 a program consisting of such performances

Examples:

This season, the Act 2 pas de quatre, a speedy and demanding divertissement for three women and one man, was cut to help streamline the ballet. (Gia Kourlas, At New York City Ballet, Swans Use Grit to Find Glory , The New York Times, February 2020)

But this smart, fast-paced film is not really the zany, lighter-than-air divertissement that the term usually conjures. (Stephen Holden, 'Mistress America,' a Noah Baumbach Comedy on Getting By in a Backbiting World, The New York Times, August 2015)

Big-league ball on the west coast of Florida is a spring sport played by the young for the divertissement of the elderly - a sun-warmed, sleepy exhibition celebrating the juvenescence of the year and the senescence of the fans. (Roger Angell, The Old Folks Behind Home, The New Yorker, March 1962)

"I tell you all this," continued La Fontaine, "because you are preparing a divertissement for Vaux, are you not?" (Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask)

The divertissement, the masquerade, the pageant, the perpetual disguise of humanity that is too soon marred, too soon sad, the theatre, every conceivable artifice of light and shadow, sound and colour, speed and space, was needed to imitate these enchanted dells and forests, these magic lakes and unearthly palaces, where Armida and Gloriana might have disported. (Marjorie Bowen, Nightcap and Plume)

Origin:

Divertissement can mean 'diversion' in both English and French, and it probably won't surprise you to learn that 'divertissement' and 'diversion' can be traced back to the same Latin root : divertere, meaning 'to turn in opposite directions.' Early uses of 'divertissement' in English often occurred in musical contexts, particularly opera and ballet, describing light sequences that entertained but did little to further the story. (The word's Italian cousin, divertimento, is used in a similar way.) Today 'divertissement' can refer to any kind of amusement or pastime, specifically one that provides a welcome distraction from what is burdensome or distressing. (Merriam-Webster)