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• tea party
  tea party

  noun

  a social gathering, usually in the afternoon, at which tea and light refreshments are served.
• Tea Party
  Tea Party

  noun

  (in the US) a political movement, associated with the right wing of the Republican Party, favouring reduction in taxation and government spending

tea party

American  

noun

tea parties plural

1. a social gathering, usually in the afternoon, at which tea and light refreshments are served.

2. (initial capital letters) a conservative political movement in the U.S. that opposes taxes and government spending: named in reference to the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

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Tea Party ¹ British  

noun

1. (in the US) a political movement, associated with the right wing of the Republican Party, favouring reduction in taxation and government spending

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tea party ² British  

noun

1. a social gathering in the afternoon at which tea is served

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tea parties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tea party

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau died after a Land Rover driven by Claire Freemantle crashed into an end-of-term tea party on the lawn of The Study Preparatory School in Wimbledon on 6 July 2023.

From BBC • Jun. 16, 2026

Vibes: cursed tea party, haunted cottage, abandoned in a mansion.

From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026

With so many stations closed or short on gas, it felt like the Mad Hatter’s tea party paradox: “Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026

Ostensibly, this was simply a tea party; in reality, it brought together like-minded souls who had known one another since the prewar era.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 2025

And she walked around the tea party until she was on the other side of it to the hand.

From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman