festival
Americannoun
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festivals
plural
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a day or time of religious or other celebration, marked by feasting, ceremonies, or other observances.
the festival of Christmas; a Roman festival.
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a periodic commemoration, anniversary, or celebration.
an annual strawberry festival.
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a period or program of festive activities, cultural events, or entertainment.
a music festival.
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gaiety; revelry; merrymaking.
adjective
noun
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a day or period set aside for celebration or feasting, esp one of religious significance
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any occasion for celebration, esp one which commemorates an anniversary or other significant event
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an organized series of special events and performances, usually in one place
a festival of drama
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archaic a time of revelry; merrymaking
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(modifier) relating to or characteristic of a festival
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of festival
1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin fēstivālis ( diēs ) holy (day). See festive, -al 1
Explanation
A festival might be an all-day series of music performances or a weekend of short plays or films. Any program made up of many different acts, especially lasting an entire day or several days, can be called a festival. Another meaning of the word festival is "big party," again most often a celebration that lasts for a long period of time. Some festivals are religious, and others are seasonal or cultural, like a city's Italian Heritage Festival. Some famous festivals include the Fringe Festival in Scotland, Carnivale in Brazil, Oktoberfest in Germany and Burning Man in the United States. You could travel the world as a festival hopper.
Vocabulary lists containing festival
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Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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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.
See Examples For:
This plane theory had first come from an X account called “TickleTexts,” who did not seem to consider that the Austin City Limits festival draws visitors from all over the country.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
In a 2020 interview with Nashville Lifestyles, Gifford explained that she had visited the city plenty of times throughout her career, recording albums, filming TV shows, and attending the CMA festival.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
In Madera, organizers postponed the third annual Oaxacan Guelaguetza festival, amid growing fears, according to the group’s Facebook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
During the 1980s, it ranked among Israel's more affluent municipalities and hosted the country's largest music festival.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Then I remembered Mr. Jeffries, my art teacher, telling us about an art festival in a town called Fountain Hills that was happening next weekend.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
We were moving to release that and put it into the fall festivals.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
He suggested buying a tent with the store’s logo to stand out at food festivals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The network has around 200 members and "almost all" embrace the spooky season with a mix of "maize mazes, after-dark trails, scare attractions and pumpkin festivals".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Elon Musk and Elizabeth Holmes are unwitting film fest stars as documentaries about problematic tech titans have dominated news coming out of prestigious film festivals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
He made motions like tying strings into bundles, then tacked them to the firmament above him in the same way garlands were hung at the festivals in Mologa.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
