banquet
Americannoun
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banquets
plural
-
a lavish meal; feast.
-
a ceremonious public dinner, especially one honoring a person, benefiting a charity, etc.
verb (used with object)
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banquets,
present (3rd person singular)
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banqueted,
past participle, past
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banqueting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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banquets,
present (3rd person singular)
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banqueted,
past participle, past
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banqueting
present participle
noun
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a lavish and sumptuous meal; feast
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a ceremonial meal for many people, often followed by speeches
verb
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(intr) to hold or take part in a banquet
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(tr) to entertain or honour (a person) with a banquet
Usage
What does banquet mean? A banquet is a feast, as in Theo likes to host banquets so he can cook all his favorite foods for others. A banquet is also a public dinner, often very fancy and benefiting a charity or celebrating a person, as in Mac likes to organize the sports banquet at the end of the year for all the school’s teams. A banquet is basically a feast for a lot of people. It’s a large, sumptuous meal during a ceremonious gathering. Banquets can be arranged to benefit a charity or to celebrate a specific person or group of people. To banquet means to entertain with a banquet or to have a banquet. You’ll often hear the phrase banqueting hall, which is a room, especially in large medieval buildings, that is big enough to hold a banquet. Example: Doreen hosted a banquet to raise money for a children’s charity.
Synonym Usage
See feast.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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banquetsimple
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banquetssimple
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have banquetedperfect
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has banquetedperfect
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am banquetingprogressive
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are banquetingprogressive
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is banquetingprogressive
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have been banquetingperfect progressive
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has been banquetingperfect progressive
Past
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banquetedsimple
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had banquetedperfect
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was banquetingprogressive
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were banquetingprogressive
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had been banquetingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of banquet
First recorded in 1450–1500; from Middle French, from Italian banchetto ( banc(o) “table” ( see bank 2) + -etto -et ); replacing late Middle English bankat, banket(te), from Middle French
Explanation
It’s customary to celebrate Thanksgiving with a banquet, or elaborate feast — along with the requisite bickering between family members. If you sat down to a banquet in the earliest sense of this word, you’d surely be disappointed. Banquet comes from a French word meaning "bench," and originally a banquet was a small snack — something you could eat while sitting on a bench. If a particular family member isn’t cooperating at your next holiday meal, consider having him dine in this traditional fashion, on a bench somewhere far from the dining room table.
Vocabulary lists containing banquet
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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Ancient Rome - Introductory
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
The second trickier and clumsier aside happens when Banderas’ chef tells Tony the tragedy of 17th century French cook François Vatel, who literally fell on his sword before serving a banquet to Louis XIV.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Louis, in comparison, is kinda busted — gloomy, tortured, unable to fully embrace the everlasting banquet Lestat has laid out for him.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
That failure, occurring on the very day New York luminaries were holding a banquet in Field’s honor, might have convinced many entrepreneurs to try a different line of business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
The East Room is the primary space in the White House for official ceremonies and events and was used to host King Charles' state banquet in April.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
But the guard locked the banquet room door.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Industry executives say caterers now clamor for foie gras to add a luxurious touch to weddings and banquets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Her party is trying to get local authorities to stop the banquets, and has had an initial success in the Brittany town of Quimper.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
Kim, absorbing North Korea’s first major combat losses in many decades, has lavished surviving families with banquets, gold medals and new Pyongyang apartments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
It’s the week of distractions for players and coaches, with interviews, banquets, pep rallies and constant phone calls seeking tickets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024
Far to the south was the country of the Ethiopians, of whom we know only that the gods held them in such favor they would sit at joyful banquets with them in their halls.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
He met with Lao president Bounnhang Vorachit, was feted at a welcome banqueted, where he toasted to a relationship he said would “mean greater progress and opportunity for the people of Laos”.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 6, 2016
There they banqueted beneath the banners of the 26 original knights and the coats-of-arms of every knight in the Order since 1350.
From Time Magazine Archive
Although these mean the rid of Latvian independence, the General Staff made the best of a sad occasion, banqueted their Soviet guests.
From Time Magazine Archive
They banqueted on the bulbs as fast as the gardeners could plant them.
From Time Magazine Archive
They knew just what the divine inhabitants did there, what they ate and drank and where they banqueted and how they amused themselves.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
“The extravagant gifting and banqueting and entertaining that fueled one big sector of imported wine has evaporated,” said Ian Ford, founding partner of Nimbility, an Asia-based beverage consulting firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
As photos on the academy website show, this was the last of the banqueting Oscars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
The new measures include cancellation of non-parliamentary business activity such as tours and banqueting activity - in addition to asking MPs and peers to wear face coverings.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2021
Or, oh — I want Keats, Byron, Rachel Carson, Dickens, Darwin — and, oh, I so want Churchill and, and, and — my dinner party will need a banqueting hall to fit them all in!
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
Whatever had taken place in the banqueting hall after my departure, there was now a genuinely celebratory atmosphere amongst the guests.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
