| 1. | (in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress) a fair that goes on perpetually in the town of Vanity and symbolizes worldly ostentation and frivolity. |
| 2. | (often lowercase ) any place or group, as the world or fashionable society, characterized by or displaying a preoccupation with idle pleasures or ostentation. |
| 3. | (italics) a novel (1847–48) by Thackeray. |
Van·i·ty Fair also van·i·ty fair  (vān'ĭ-tē)  n. A place or scene of ostentation or empty, idle amusement and frivolity. [From Vanity Fair, the fair in Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.] |