Fourth of July

American  

noun

1. Independence Day.

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Fourth of July British  

noun

1. Official name: Independence Day.  a holiday in the United States, traditionally celebrated with fireworks: the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776

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Fourth of July Cultural  

1. The day on which the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776; Independence Day.

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Etymology

Origin of Fourth of July

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Example Sentences

Last year, I changed the Fourth of July menu because the day before I caught a 180-pound bigeye tuna and that was the dinner.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

“On a holiday? Could be hours,” responds Dana, a veteran who knows better, as the Fourth of July shift enters afternoon hours.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026

Every January, millions of us make bold predictions without data, adopt strategies without feedback, and sign up for gym memberships that quietly autodraft until we notice the charge sometime around the Fourth of July.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

She figured she, too, would spend her whole life in this neighborhood, where she — an Independence Day baby — got to spend each birthday marching in the huge Fourth of July Parade.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 2025

She relished reporting the Fourth of July Toast: “John Adams. May he, like Samson, slay thousands of Frenchmen with the jawbone of Jefferson.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis