banquet
Americannoun
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a lavish meal; feast.
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a ceremonious public dinner, especially one honoring a person, benefiting a charity, etc.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a lavish and sumptuous meal; feast
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a ceremonial meal for many people, often followed by speeches
verb
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(intr) to hold or take part in a banquet
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(tr) to entertain or honour (a person) with a banquet
Usage
What does banquet mean? A banquet is a feast, as in Theo likes to host banquets so he can cook all his favorite foods for others. A banquet is also a public dinner, often very fancy and benefiting a charity or celebrating a person, as in Mac likes to organize the sports banquet at the end of the year for all the school’s teams. A banquet is basically a feast for a lot of people. It’s a large, sumptuous meal during a ceremonious gathering. Banquets can be arranged to benefit a charity or to celebrate a specific person or group of people. To banquet means to entertain with a banquet or to have a banquet. You’ll often hear the phrase banqueting hall, which is a room, especially in large medieval buildings, that is big enough to hold a banquet. Example: Doreen hosted a banquet to raise money for a children’s charity.
Synonym Usage
See feast.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have banquetedperfect
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has banquetedperfect 3rd person singular
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has been banquetingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am banquetingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been banquetingperfect progressive
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is banquetingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are banquetingprogressive
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banquetingparticiple
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banquetssingular 3rd person
Past
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had banquetedperfect
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were banquetingprogressive plural
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was banquetingprogressive singular
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had been banquetingperfect progressive
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banquetedparticiple
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banquetedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of banquet
First recorded in 1450–1500; from Middle French, from Italian banchetto ( banc(o) “table” ( see bank 2) + -etto -et ); replacing late Middle English bankat, banket(te), from Middle French
Explanation
It’s customary to celebrate Thanksgiving with a banquet, or elaborate feast — along with the requisite bickering between family members. If you sat down to a banquet in the earliest sense of this word, you’d surely be disappointed. Banquet comes from a French word meaning "bench," and originally a banquet was a small snack — something you could eat while sitting on a bench. If a particular family member isn’t cooperating at your next holiday meal, consider having him dine in this traditional fashion, on a bench somewhere far from the dining room table.
Vocabulary lists containing banquet
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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Ancient Rome - Introductory
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At an evening banquet on Monday, Xi praised relations between both countries, saying that China and North Korea are "linked by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny", state outlet Xinhua reported.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
At the Colmar banquet, held in a vast hangar-like space on the edge of town, such accusations are dismissed out of hand.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
There, Xi hosted Trump and his delegation at the Great Hall of the People for a day of meetings and a banquet dinner of Peking duck and pan-fried pork buns.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
Officials attempted to block Fang multiple times on his way to the banquet.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
His eyes had glowed like fire at the banquet, but now they looked less fiery and more like...copper.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
