Definition of "divertissement" [di•ver•tisse•ment]

• A short performance, typically a ballet, that is presented as an interlude in an opera or play. (noun)
• Music See divertimento. (noun)
• A diversion; an amusement. (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 divertissement is a happy coda to the drama, and a standard device of 19th-century classical ballet."
• "Let's remember the facts as we watch this play out: Osama bin Laden is still at large, Iraq has been devastated, and our government is treating us to a little "divertissement" with some monkey trials."
• "In the divertissement of The Dying Swan Madame Pavlova was again in white, but she invested its neutrality with a completely new expression — that of tragedy."