picnic
Americannoun
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picnics
plural
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an excursion or outing in which the participants carry food with them and share a meal in the open air.
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the food eaten on such an excursion.
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Also called picnic ham, picnic shoulder. a section of pork shoulder, usually boned, smoked, and weighing 4–6 pounds.
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Informal. an enjoyable experience or time, easy task, etc..
Being laid up in a hospital is no picnic.
verb (used without object)
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picnics,
present (3rd person singular)
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picnicked,
past participle, past
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picnicking
present participle
noun
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a trip or excursion to the country, seaside, etc, on which people bring food to be eaten in the open air
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any informal meal eaten outside
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( as modifier )
a picnic lunch
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informal a troublesome situation or experience
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informal a hard or disagreeable task
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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picnicsimple
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picnicssimple
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have picnickedperfect
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has picnickedperfect
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am picnickingprogressive
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are picnickingprogressive
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is picnickingprogressive
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have been picnickingperfect progressive
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has been picnickingperfect progressive
Past
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picnickedsimple
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had picnickedperfect
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was picnickingprogressive
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were picnickingprogressive
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had been picnickingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of picnic
1740–50; < German Pic-nic (now Picknick ) < French pique-nique, rhyming compound < ?
Explanation
A picnic is a meal that you eat outside. For your birthday, you might take a picnic lunch (including celebratory cupcakes) to a nearby beach with some friends. You can use the word picnic for both the occasion — "Let's go on a picnic!" — and for the meal itself: "I am packing the best picnic to take on our hike." It's also a verb, meaning "to eat outside." And when a friend describes a difficult task and adds, "It was no picnic," they mean to emphasize how hard it was — the opposite of an easy, breezy picnic.
Vocabulary lists containing picnic
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Words to Know and Academic Words, Unit 6
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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:
Since there aren’t too many stocks that tick all three boxes, the small number turned out to be frighteningly volatile relative to the market—no picnic itself sometimes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Following the show — billowing shapes, punk-y hair sculptures, all classically Collina — we walked into a whimsical picnic complete with a margarita fountain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
"We have a picnic on the beach at Welcombe Mouth, a swim and a walk back to the house for some cake," she wrote of the longstanding family tradition.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The previous owner began to expand in the 1990s, adding picnic tables and a larger deck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
But the picnic area...I remember it having a little pavilion with a picnic table.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Bowie told the informant that she would "make it a point to have picnics by the capital to observe" and learn about security measures, the complaint alleges.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
In Greenwich, some people got up from their picnics as the "dust devil" moved across the park, with some even heard screaming.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
“This used to be a park where my dad and I used to come and have picnics and he would play ballgaming here with a lot of families,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Unlike in previous years, when residents could bring coolers and picnics to the mall, guests this year will go through security and are allowed to bring only one small clear bag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
Crow’s Head Valley was not exactly a place for picnics.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Olivia Rodrigo picnicked in the park with one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
I’d seen the Joey P. my entire life; I had visited it on field trips and picnicked in a park that stands in the shadow of its gun mounts.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
Young women and men picnicked side by side on the pavement, chanting: “Woman! Life! Freedom!”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
Streets of identical high-rise apartments were interspersed with parks and wide, tree-lined streets, while residents picnicked beside the Siverskyi Donets river and in forests nearby.
From Reuters ● May 30, 2022
COLIC: colicky frolic: frolicked, frolicker, frolicking GARLIC: garlicky mimic: mimicked, mimicking panic: panicked, panicking, panicky picnic: picnicked, picnicker, picnicking POLITICS: politicker, politicking traffic: trafficked, trafficker, trafficking playwright.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
But, Tucker said, in recent weeks, tourists have been found picnicking in the site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Still, hundreds of families sat out under mild, cloudy skies, picnicking amid sweeping views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains -- a postcard scene at odds with a city under regular attack.
From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026
Edwardian author Kenneth Grahame's story of boating, caravanning and picnicking and the hi-jinks of a cross-dressing amphibian is also an ode to the English landscape.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
At first, these trolley parks were simply gardens and picnicking grounds, but in time other attractions and rides like roller coasters and Ferris wheels were added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
COLIC: colicky frolic: frolicked, frolicker, frolicking GARLIC: garlicky mimic: mimicked, mimicking panic: panicked, panicking, panicky picnic: picnicked, picnicker, picnicking POLITICS: politicker, politicking traffic: trafficked, trafficker, trafficking playwright.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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