Bacchanalia
noun
a festival in honor of Bacchus.
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Bacchanalia
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bacchanalia
bacchanaliaplural noun(often capital) orgiastic rites associated with Bacchus
Bacchanalia
American
[bak-uh-ney-lee-uh, -neyl-yuh]
/ ˌbæk əˈneɪ li ə, -ˈneɪl jə /
noun
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Bacchanalia,
plural
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Bacchanalias
plural
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(sometimes used with a plural verb) a festival in honor of Bacchus.
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(lowercase) a drunken feast; orgy.
bacchanalia
British
/ ˌbækəˈneɪlɪə /
plural noun
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(often capital) orgiastic rites associated with Bacchus
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any drunken revelry
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Bacchanalia
1625–35; < Latin equivalent to Bacch ( us ) + -ān ( us ) -an + -ālia, neuter plural of -ālis -al 1; probably modeled on volcānālia. See Saturnalia
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.
See Examples For:
While fatherhood has slowed my nightlife habits, judging by the gondola banter of a quintet of seasonal employees regaling the night prior’s exploits, the Bacchanalia is back.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 13, 2023
The party a few hours later at Bacchanalia seemed to occur in an alternative universe.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2022
At a time when restaurants are scrabbling for waitstaff, part of a broader labor shortage, Bacchanalia one recent afternoon was crawling with employees.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2022
At Bacchanalia, the emphasis is on freshness, and the restaurant uses all organic ingredients, many of which are sourced from the owner's personal farm.
From Time ● Aug. 17, 2017
His mother might only have gone to one of her bowling Bacchanalia.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
An omen among omens: Mid-dog-walk that day, I spot a onesie that reads “Milk Drunk” and shudder at the impulse to recruit our newborns into low-key bacchanalia.
From Slate ● May 10, 2026
“Babylon” doesn’t just long for the movie palaces of old, or even the wild-and-woolly world of silent film and the attendant bacchanalia the movie so riotously depicts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
A lot of my favorite moments at The Verge happened at CES, the bacchanalia of consumer tech and consumerism that used to matter much more than it does now.
From The Verge ● Mar. 4, 2022
We've gotten clues that this bacchanalia isn't a one-off and leads to eviler turns.
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2022
The sights below were out of a ghoul's bacchanalia.
From The Sky Is Falling by Lester Del Rey
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.
