festoon
Americannoun
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a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.
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a decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.
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a fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.
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Dentistry. the garlandlike area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.
verb (used with object)
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festoons,
present (3rd person singular)
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festooned,
past participle, past
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festooning
present participle
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to adorn with or as with festoons.
to festoon a hall.
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to form into festoons.
to festoon flowers and leaves.
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Dentistry. to reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.
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to connect by festoons.
noun
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a decorative chain of flowers, ribbons, etc, suspended in loops; garland
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a carved or painted representation of this, as in architecture, furniture, or pottery
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the scalloped appearance of the gums where they meet the teeth
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a design carved on the base material of a denture to simulate this
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either of two Zerynthia species of white pierid butterfly of southern Europe, typically mottled red, yellow, and brown
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an ochreous brown moth, Apoda avellana the unusual sluglike larvae of which feed on oak leaves
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verb
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to decorate or join together with festoons
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to form into festoons
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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festoonsimple
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festoonssimple
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have festoonedperfect
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has festoonedperfect
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am festooningprogressive
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are festooningprogressive
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is festooningprogressive
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have been festooningperfect progressive
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has been festooningperfect progressive
Past
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festoonedsimple
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had festoonedperfect
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was festooningprogressive
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were festooningprogressive
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had been festooningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of festoon
1670–80; < French feston < Italian festone decoration for a feast, derivative of festa festa
Explanation
A festoon is a decorative string of flowers that you drape across a room, dropping in curves between support points. If you're decorating for Halloween, why not try a creatively spooky festoon of dried roses covered in cobwebs? Festoon probably comes from the Italian word festone, for "feast," and if you can imagine an Italian courtyard strung up with flowers and lanterns, then you have a sense of what it means to festoon a place. A noun or a verb, festoon can mean the decoration itself, or the work of putting it up. Festoons don't strictly have to be made of flowers, though they usually are. You can festoon with fabric too, or paper chains. Or cobwebs.
Vocabulary lists containing festoon
The Fault in Our Stars
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Mardi Gras: Fun
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A Long Way Gone
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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:
If your social-worker friend envies your designer clothes, you don’t have to ditch your Prada for rags, but it’s probably better not to festoon your outfit with your biggest diamond.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
This spring, billions of cicadas across the eastern half of the U.S. will emerge from their multiyear slumber to festoon the trees and sing their loud songs.
From Slate ● Apr. 14, 2024
Found materials, including street signage rulers, ornithology illustrations and children’s drawings, festoon the canvas, mingling with hurried chalk annotations and prays of gestural brushwork resembling graffiti.
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2024
Filaments of dust and gas festoon this star-forming region in a new infrared image from MIRI.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2023
Flags festoon the theater’s heights, the red-and-gold pennant of Gens Taia snapping in the wind beside the black, diamond-emblazoned standard of Blackcliff.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed announced cuts to the decorative lighting that usually festoons government buildings, for both Independence Day on March 26 and Eid.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
Then, Olafsson blazed into the sequence that climaxes with the celebratory festoons of the 30th and final variation, the Quodlibet, which joyously weaves together strains of melody.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
With its tall ceiling, round arches, chandeliers and decorated friezes, plus its famed white glazed terra-cotta facade adorned with festoons, cornices and Corinthian keystones, the building certainly has the pomp of a grand museum.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
AA memorabilia festoons the largest meeting room in Wilson House, a hotel built in the mid-1800s.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 11, 2020
It was made of granite for strength and massiveness, but like so many other things in Iofur’s palace, it was decorated with overelaborate swags and festoons of gilt that looked like tinsel on a mountainside.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
A block later I hobbled past the Justice Department, its facade festooned with a giant banner of Trump’s face.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Jason Ardizzone West’s abstract set is a construction of curving ramps, accommodating much of the big chorus and festooned with night lights; a large disc hangs above a center platform, occasionally tilting and dipping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
One is festooned in SpongeBob memorabilia; another contains the rack on which a girl would arrange her outfits for the week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
"Europe's security under construction" boasts the slogan on an eye-catching set of sleek black-and-white photographs, festooned across a scaffolding-clad church on one of this town's best known pedestrian boulevards.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
Her black hair is tied to a crown festooned with more pearls, appearing like webbing above her head.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
She also stood on a bench in a pink wedding cake of a dress, with guitar-shaped cutouts festooning her arms, posing like a surrealist’s conception of a religious icon.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2024
Now his great-granddaughter is cultivating seed there, and not just from the Clematis that scramble over shrubs, festooning their branches with colorful little bells and stars and, later, the froth of all those seed heads.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Those included festooning the mansion with flags from the University of Houston, rival of Rice University, where Youngkin played basketball.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2022
In two caves, researchers previously documented tens of thousands of bat bones festooning the floors and walls.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 31, 2017
A half mile away, she saw the paper festooning the trees and bushes in front of Finn’s house.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
