tableau
n. C2 Proficiency US //təˈbɫoʊ// UK //tˈæbləʊ// tableau
n. a frozen image or scene that looks like a painting. You use this to describe a moment where everyone stops moving to create a perfect picture.
n. a frozen scene or arrangement of people or objects that resembles a painting. Often used to describe a moment in a play or a formal portrait.
The children formed a beautiful tableau of the family.
The director asked the actors to hold their final positions to create a dramatic tableau for the closing scene.
The photographer captured a tableau of the city's skyline at dawn, where the morning mist created a sense of stillness that felt almost like a painting.
Unadapted borrowing from French tableau, from Old French tablel (“a surface which is used primarily for painting”).