festival
Americannoun
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a day or time of religious or other celebration, marked by feasting, ceremonies, or other observances.
the festival of Christmas; a Roman festival.
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a periodic commemoration, anniversary, or celebration.
an annual strawberry festival.
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a period or program of festive activities, cultural events, or entertainment.
a music festival.
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gaiety; revelry; merrymaking.
adjective
noun
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a day or period set aside for celebration or feasting, esp one of religious significance
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any occasion for celebration, esp one which commemorates an anniversary or other significant event
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an organized series of special events and performances, usually in one place
a festival of drama
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archaic a time of revelry; merrymaking
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(modifier) relating to or characteristic of a festival
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of festival
1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin fēstivālis ( diēs ) holy (day). See festive, -al 1
Explanation
A festival might be an all-day series of music performances or a weekend of short plays or films. Any program made up of many different acts, especially lasting an entire day or several days, can be called a festival. Another meaning of the word festival is "big party," again most often a celebration that lasts for a long period of time. Some festivals are religious, and others are seasonal or cultural, like a city's Italian Heritage Festival. Some famous festivals include the Fringe Festival in Scotland, Carnivale in Brazil, Oktoberfest in Germany and Burning Man in the United States. You could travel the world as a festival hopper.
Vocabulary lists containing festival
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Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Introductory
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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 San Fermin festival, which was made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises", draws people from around the world.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Ten men suffered injuries Tuesday during the eighth and final bull run of Spain's famed San Fermin festival, bringing to 57 the total number of daredevils injured during this year's fiesta.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
He added: "Once we've got a date for length of time for this, that will determine whether the upcoming closures, for example of George Street for the festival, has to be a consideration or not."
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
A quick stroll upstream, a group of DJs unaffiliated with the family-friendly festival hosted a day party aimed at Gen Z and millennial attendees, perched on one of the channel’s outcrops.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
My only other remembrances of the great festival are, That they wouldn’t let me go to sleep, but whenever they saw me dropping off, woke me up and told me to enjoy myself.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
And on red carpets and film festivals, you can find movie and industry leaders feeding their four favorite films into a microphone emblazoned with Letterboxd’s orange, green and blue dot logo.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Visiting World Cup fans are falling for everyday American staples as North America hosts record-breaking crowds across 16 venues, turning match days into neighborhood festivals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
"We have their trust that we'll put on enough bands that they want to see," says Castle, who adds that a cut in VAT for independent festivals would help.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Rhapsodes competed at religious festivals in a kind of relay to determine who could recall the most passages from works such as the “Odyssey.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“Is this...your thing? Art festivals in parks? Like, how come you don't go to the park to play ball or something?”
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
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.
