festival

American  

[fes-tuh-vuhl] / ˈfɛs tə vəl /

noun

• festivals
  plural

1. a day or time of religious or other celebration, marked by feasting, ceremonies, or other observances.

   the festival of Christmas; a Roman festival.

2. a periodic commemoration, anniversary, or celebration.

   an annual strawberry festival.

3. a period or program of festive activities, cultural events, or entertainment.

   a music festival.

4. gaiety; revelry; merrymaking.

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adjective

1. festal.

   a festival atmosphere of unrestrained joy.

festival British  

/ ˈfɛstɪvəl /

noun

1. a day or period set aside for celebration or feasting, esp one of religious significance

2. any occasion for celebration, esp one which commemorates an anniversary or other significant event

3. an organized series of special events and performances, usually in one place

   a festival of drama

4. archaic a time of revelry; merrymaking

5. (modifier) relating to or characteristic of a festival

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prefestival
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• festivals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of festival

1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin fēstivālis ( diēs ) holy (day). See festive, -al ¹

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

festival festivals

This plane theory had first come from an X account called “TickleTexts,” who did not seem to consider that the Austin City Limits festival draws visitors from all over the country.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

Or if there’s a festival happening at the Egyptian or something I wanted to see at Vidiots, maybe I’d do that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

In a 2020 interview with Nashville Lifestyles, Gifford explained that she had visited the city plenty of times throughout her career, recording albums, filming TV shows, and attending the CMA festival.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

During the 1980s, it ranked among Israel's more affluent municipalities and hosted the country's largest music festival.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

But he was pleased that he had mentioned the festival to Mr. Richard, because it meant an opportunity to see Nnesinachi before she left for the North.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We were moving to release that and put it into the fall festivals.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Afrobeats genre, which originates from West Africa, has massively grown in recent years - dominating playlists and seeing artists, including Starr, featuring at major festivals such as Glastonbury.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

“Do we want to be like the one or two other punk festivals in this country that’s almost all Southern California bands? No.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Its Music Academy hosted traveling festivals and workshops until 2019, and the company still partners with electronic music festivals, including sponsoring a seven-city Midsummer series this past June.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Yearly festivals were held in honor of the migration, parties planned, even a parade was on the schedule.

From "The Red Umbrella" by Christina Gonzalez

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Related Words

• anniversary
• commemoration
• competition
• fair
• feast
• gala
• holiday

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