festal
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of festal
First recorded in 1470–80; from Latin fēst(um) feast + -al 1
Explanation
If you're throwing a party and you want it to be fun and fabulous, you're hoping for a festal event. Anything that's festal has a jubilant, celebratory quality. The adjective festal is a little old-fashioned; these days, you're more likely to use festive instead. The two words are closely related to festival, which was originally defined as "a festal day." All three words share a Latin root, festum, or "feast" — and everyone knows that a feast is at the heart of every truly festal celebration.
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.
At the Blue Note, Jean performs a kind of Haitian exceptionalism: a sensorially rich, festal theater that serves as a necessary counterweight to the country’s grim realities of poverty and political neglect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
A creation of the Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral, conceived and directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu, this four-performer production features exultant sequences of festal song and dance.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2020
It was an uneventful, though positive, return after a festal prelude, which included the mariachi band giving a second performance while Washington took batting practice.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2018
Yet for all the irrepressible flamboyance of the Dickens atmosphere, the story certainly presents us with someone committed to the suppression of the festal world, and of kindness itself.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 19, 2015
He rode down to Niflheim, the world of the dead, where he found the dwelling of Hela, or Hel, the Goddess of the Dead, all decked out in festal array.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
