Definitions
Small carved relief or brief appearance by a known person.
Word origin
Borrowed from Italian cammeo, from Medieval Latin camaeus, of unknown origin. The movie sense is short for “cameo role” referring to a famous person who was playing no character, but him or herself. Like a cameo brooch — a low-relief carving of a person’s head or bust — the actor or celebrity is instantly recognizable. More recently, it has come to refer to any short appearances, whether as a character or as oneself. Doublet of camaieu.
Used in a sentence
“Aarfy's buxom trollop had vanished with her smutty cameo ring, and Nurse Duckett was ashamed of him because he had refused to fly more combat missions and would cause a scandal.”
“Famous comic book writer Stan Lee had a cameo in the Spider-Man movie. He was on screen for perhaps ten seconds, but aficionados distinctly remember him.”
“As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Brief star appearance”5 letters
Not quite right?
"Search similar patterns."
C____