noun
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merriment characteristic of a festival, party, etc
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any festival or other celebration
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(plural) festive proceedings; celebrations
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of festivity
1350–1400; Middle English festivite (< Old French ) < Latin fēstīvitās. See festive, -ity
Explanation
Festivity is a fancy word for “party” or “celebration.” It’s often plural, because everyone loves to party, as in all the holiday festivities that happen at the end of the year. The word festive describes balloons, fancy clothes, finger foods, and other things that go with celebrations. Likewise, a festivity is any kind of festive occasion. A birthday party, surprise party, graduation party, and Halloween party are all festivities. The word festivity shares a Latin root with the word feast. At festivities, people eat, drink, and are merry.
Vocabulary lists containing festivity
Mardi Gras: Fun
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Copper Sun
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"Allied with Green," Vocabulary from the short story
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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:
Marco Piemontese’s striking period costumes conjured the artists’ milieu, and Marcus Doshi’s lighting evoked both festivity and the tragedy of the ending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
For someone who had attended the festivity barely a week prior, the resolution proposed by board chair Garry Bredefeld was divisive, not unifying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The incident took place on Saturday during an annual cultural festivity at the Laferrière Citadel, a Unesco World Heritage site in northern Haiti.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — In the past, playing a regular-season game abroad would bring a sense of festivity for a New England Patriots team that is unbeaten in three previous international appearances.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
All in the space of a night events had moved from festivity to a crisis, and he, Matthias, had taken a major role in both.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Every year, a person of special importance serves as the ceremonial guitar string cutter to open the festivities.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
The wedding festivities then continued for two days.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Rubio was on a diplomatic trip to Ecuador during the convention, so he wasn't among the small handful of cabinet officials who attended the festivities in Dallas.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
This year the argument spilled over to the tents that house the festivities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
He did recover, indeed, in less than a week, and two weeks later he was celebrating the fact of his survival with unprecedented festivities.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
