Definition of "tableau" []

• A vivid or graphic description: The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life. (noun)
• A striking incidental scene, as of a picturesque group of people: "New public figures suddenly abound in the hitherto faceless totalitarian tableaux” ( John McLaughlin). (noun)
• An interlude during a scene when all the performers on stage freeze in position and then resume action as before. (noun)
• A tableau vivant. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The most impressive tableau is the pop-up of a large Mos Eisley spaceport where our heroes Luke and Obi-Wan first met Han and Chewie."
• "The whole tableau is a high school nightmare come to life."
• "The killings of the crew men were enacted in tableau fashion."