Synonyms

Christmas Eve

American

noun

the evening or the day preceding Christmas.

Christmas Eve British

noun

the evening or the whole day before Christmas Day

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Christmas Eve

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

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.

We humans eat seven fishes on Christmas Eve, samosas on Eid al-Fitr and maple cookies behind the moon.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

On Christmas Eve, Nvidia paid $20 billion for a perpetual license to Groq’s inference chip, which is called an LPU.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

On Christmas Eve 2024, a mechanical problem prompted the evacuation of skiers from a lift.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026

My father left my mother with five young children on Christmas Eve in 1978.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 25, 2026

I had thought so much about Lee that by Christmas Eve I felt I knew her.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023