fairground
Americannoun
-
fairgrounds
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fairground
Explanation
A fairground is an open outdoor area where a fair, circus, or some other exhibition sets up temporarily. Many county fairs are put on at the same fairground for a week or two each summer. Many funnel cakes are eaten there. Most fairgrounds have space for rides like Ferris wheels and bumper cars. Agricultural fairs might also have exhibit areas where visitors can see animals, handmade items, baked goods, giant watermelons, and other impressive produce. A traveling circus or carnival might also set up on fairground. The central section of a fairground is usually called a "midway."
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:
On the night of the quinceañera in Alice, Pulido made a second stop at a birthday party at the Jim Wells County fairground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026
A fairground train carrying children made its way through the crowd, its Christmas soundtrack drowned out by the supportive honks of cars.
From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025
A fairground worker who died at a seaside carnival will be loved endlessly, his family have said.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
Adips says the fairground industry "has a record that would be the envy of many industries in this country" but it "will always look at learning points to make things safer".
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025
The fairground man on the Great Silvestro's Flying Tea-Cups locked the padded bars that'd stop me, Dean, Floyd Chaceley, and Clive Pike from being flung halfway to Orion.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
In August 2024, Novo Nordisk bused its employees to the sprawling Roskilde fairgrounds outside Copenhagen for its annual summer party.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The fairgrounds were illuminated using incandescent electric lighting at a scale that showed how entire urban districts could be electrified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
The protesters rallied on Munich's Theresienwiese fairgrounds, denouncing the leadership of Iran's Islamic Republic following the deadly repression of nationwide protests in January.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
He maintained during his trial that his two crossbows were "purely for sport" and that two pistols were the kind "commonly used in fairgrounds".
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
Up on top the air smelled less like grease and sugar, more like just-baled hay and the muddy waters of the Yellowstone as it lazed its way around the fairgrounds.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
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.
