picnic
Americannoun
-
an excursion or outing in which the participants carry food with them and share a meal in the open air.
-
the food eaten on such an excursion.
-
Also called picnic ham,. Also called picnic shoulder. a section of pork shoulder, usually boned, smoked, and weighing 4–6 pounds.
-
Informal. an enjoyable experience or time, easy task, etc..
Being laid up in a hospital is no picnic.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a trip or excursion to the country, seaside, etc, on which people bring food to be eaten in the open air
-
-
any informal meal eaten outside
-
( as modifier )
a picnic lunch
-
-
informal a troublesome situation or experience
-
informal a hard or disagreeable task
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
picnicsimple
-
picnicssimple
-
have picnickedperfect
-
has picnickedperfect
-
am picnickingprogressive
-
are picnickingprogressive
-
is picnickingprogressive
-
have been picnickingperfect progressive
-
has been picnickingperfect progressive
Past
-
picnickedsimple
-
had picnickedperfect
-
was picnickingprogressive
-
were picnickingprogressive
-
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
Memorial Day Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Words to Know and Academic Words, Unit 6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
Last Saturday morning, dozens of families set up their canopies for the annual Chavez Ravine community picnic, bringing photo albums and other cherished keepsakes to display table side.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
A clown paints children's faces, music fills the air, as families spread picnic carpets across the grass.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
Parks was on a family picnic when he had his lightbulb moment 50 years ago.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Woven baskets, checkered blankets, fringed umbrellas and trimmed napkins prove picnic classics never go out of style.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
“Like a pic-a-nic,” said Pa. He always added that extra “a” in picnic, and I liked the sound of it.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Emma adds to the fun by taking her kids fruit picking and also by letting them choose at the supermarket, then having tasty picnics in the garden.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
And while we tend to think of picnics as outdoor lunches — which means sandwiches, grain salads and the occasional tub of pasta salad — biscuits suggest a different possibility.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
Newsom has reported receiving $72,000 in travel, staff picnics and holiday events from the protocol foundation since he took office in 2019, according to the disclosures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
Meanwhile, she gets Yeti swag and treated to company picnics and parties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
No milk and honey on the other side, either, but just more stinking jungle laying low in the haze, as far, far away as the memory of picnics in Georgia.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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
On their second date, they picnicked in Central Park.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2021
He was walking in the woods where he had picnicked with his wife.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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
Battle scenes — including Bull Run, where picnicking tourists are accurately shown in attendance — are convincingly rendered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 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
Now they were picnicking near where their apartment used to be.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Definitions 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.
