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  • Bacchanalia
    Bacchanalia
    noun
    a festival in honor of Bacchus.
  • bacchanalia
    bacchanalia
    plural noun
    (often capital) orgiastic rites associated with Bacchus
Synonyms

Bacchanalia

American  
[bak-uh-nay-lee-uh, -nayl-yuh] / ˌbæk əˈneɪ li ə, -ˈneɪl jə /

noun

  • Bacchanalia,
    plural
  • Bacchanalias
    plural
  1. (sometimes used with a plural verb) a festival in honor of Bacchus.

  2. (lowercase) a drunken feast; orgy.


bacchanalia British  
/ ˌbækəˈneɪlɪə /

plural noun

  1. (often capital) orgiastic rites associated with Bacchus

  2. any drunken revelry

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

More than anything, Bacchanalia feels like a dare to everyone in Britain who is not dining at Bacchanalia.

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

The biggest step the city has taken was to allow rallygoers to drink on public property, reasoning it will spread the bacchanalia into the open air.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2021

The stern thorn crows you offer to us when we are inclined to ask your absolution, are not the right means to win us from the rose wreaths of our bacchanalia.

From Beatrice Boville and Other Stories by Ouida

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