Pentecost

American  

[pen-ti-kawst, -kost] / ˈpɛn tɪˌkɔst, -ˌkɒst /

noun

1. a Christian festival celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles; Whitsunday.

2. Shavuoth.

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Pentecost British  

/ ˈpɛntɪˌkɒst /

noun

1. a Christian festival occurring on Whit Sunday commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles

2. Also called: Feast of Weeks.   Shavuot.  Judaism the harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the second day of Passover on the sixth and seventh days of Sivan, and commemorating the giving the Torah on Mount Sinai

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Pentecost Cultural  

1. In the New Testament, the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus. Pentecost is the Greek name for Shavuot, the spring harvest festival of the Israelites, which was going on when the Holy Spirit came. The disciples were together in Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem) after Jesus'Resurrection and return to heaven, fearful because he had left them. On that morning, however, “there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Because of the festival, crowds of visitors were in Jerusalem, speaking many languages, but the disciples of Jesus moved among them and spoke to them all, and “every man heard them speak in his own language” about “the wonderful works of God.” Peter then made a powerful speech to the crowds in the city, and many were baptized as new followers of Jesus.

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Etymology

Origin of Pentecost

First recorded before 1000; Middle English pentecoste, Old English pentecosten, from Late Latin pentēcostē, from Greek pentēkostḗ (hēmérā) “fiftieth (day),” feminine of pentikostós, ordinal form of pentḗkonta “fifty”; akin to Armenian hisun, Latin quīnquāgintā, Persian panjâh, Sanskrit pañcāśát

Example Sentences

These are the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives, the Crucifixion and the Lamentation; and, finally, the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Isleworth Crown Court heard how Pentecost was due to work on a flight from San Francisco to London Heathrow in May.

From BBC • Sep. 19, 2025

The 12th century “Stavelot Retable,” loaned by Paris’ Cluny Museum, shows the Christian Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 12 apostles, courtesy of beams of light radiating from above.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2024

The work adapts and takes its name from the traditional liturgy for 9 o’clock, the time when the Holy Spirit is believed to have appeared to the apostles on Pentecost.

From New York Times • Jan. 14, 2024

The court was at Carlisle at the time, for the feast of Pentecost, and it was arranged that everybody should meet in the town meadow.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White