carnival

American  

[kahr-nuh-vuhl] / ˈkɑr nə vəl /

noun

• carnivals
  plural

1. a traveling amusement show, having sideshows, rides, etc.

2. any merrymaking, revelry, or festival, as a program of sports or entertainment.

   a winter carnival.

   Synonyms:

   holiday, fete, celebration, fair

3. the season immediately preceding Lent, often observed with merrymaking; Shrovetide.

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carnival British  

/ ˈkɑːnɪvəl /

noun

1. 1. a festive occasion or period marked by merrymaking, processions, etc: esp in some Roman Catholic countries, the period just before Lent

   2. ( as modifier )

      a carnival atmosphere

2. a travelling fair having merry-go-rounds, etc

3. a show or display arranged as an amusement

4. a sports meeting

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Usage

What is Carnival? Carnival, with a capital C, refers to the multiple-day period of merrymaking before the start of Lent. It is especially associated with the massive street festival held annually in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is famous for its big parades, ornate costumes, and samba dancing. Carnival is also celebrated in many other countries, especially those with large Catholic populations, including Italy, Spain, France, and Germany (where it is called Fasching). The equivalent pre-Lent celebration in the U. S. (especially New Orleans) and some other places is known as Mardi Gras. In religious contexts, the three-day period before Lent is known as Shrovetide. Carnival is part of a tradition of indulging before the Lenten fast, but it is not a Christian holiday. Carnival is also sometimes spelled Carnaval.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• carnivalesque
  adjective
• carnivallike
  adjective
• precarnival
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• carnivals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of carnival

1540–50; < Italian carnevale, Old Italian carnelevare taking meat away, equivalent to carne flesh (< Latin carnem, accusative of caro ) + levare < Latin levāre to lift

Compare meaning

How does carnival compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• carnival vs. Mardi Gras

Explanation

If you have an annual festival going on in your neighborhood that involves live music, street vendors, and games, you could call that a carnival. The word carnival originally referred to a public festival involving general merriment and feasting, often taking place on the street and frequently associated with a religious holiday. Later the word’s meaning broadened to refer to a traveling show that offers similar activities, like a winter carnival or a fair. Nowadays the word carnival is also used figuratively to refer to something characterized by raucous disorder. If, for example, your coworkers ended up heckling your CEO at a company meeting, you could describe the scene as a carnival (although you would most likely NOT see any cotton candy in the board room).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carnival carnivals

Born on the carnival circuit, the pseudo-sport maintained a here today-gone tomorrow feeling until relatively recently.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

Possible precedents flicker: Maya hieroglyphs, Buddhist mandalas, Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts, Bosch, Gauguin, feathered Trinidadian carnival masks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Janely Montgomery was enjoying a carnival with her friend near Buffalo, N.Y., when she got hungry and stopped by a halal truck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

There’s an Ojai Fall Festival coming with carnival rides and games Sept. 11-13, followed by the Ojai Film Festival Nov. 5-9.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

It started to rain halfway through, but it was only a drizzle so we still went to the carnival in the center.

From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy

By the early 1990s, some crews in the U.K. began throwing megaraves more spiritually akin to experiential carnivals than to more lowkey dance-floor-and-DJ setups.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026

Families popped it over wood stoves; peddlers sold it in paper cones at circuses, carnivals and busy promenades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

After that, his unclaimed body began its wanderings: as a greeter for an Oklahoma funeral home, as a sideshow attraction for touring carnivals, and even in a titillating 1933 pre-Code film, “Narcotic.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2025

On Feb. 10, Asian American communities around the U.S. will ring in the Year of the Dragon with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

There were also choral competitions, with a festival atmosphere and plenty of group choreography - ancient versions, if you like, of the present-day carnivals in Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad and Notting Hill.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall