Synonyms

festive season

British

noun

the period immediately leading up to Christmas and ending just after New Year

"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

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.

“That’s quite concerning. Even the festive season isn’t really giving people the desire to spend as they did before.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

After taking a train home to her native Hebei province, Beijing resident Hua Lei told AFP she would observe a subdued festive season.

From Barron's • Mar. 4, 2026

The song also reminded Americans what they were fighting for and captured a yearning to be home with family during the festive season.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 1, 2026

“Home Alone” is a seminal Christmas classic that airs on millions of screens across the world every festive season, more than three decades after the movie premiered.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 29, 2025

It was a squalid sight, though the festive season of the year and that glamourous air peculiar to Indiana brooded it.

From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880 of Popular Literature and Science by Various

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