fiesta
Americannoun
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fiestas
plural
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any festival or festive celebration.
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(in Spain and Latin America) a festive celebration of a religious holiday.
noun
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a religious festival or celebration, esp on a saint's day
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a holiday or carnival
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fiesta
1835–45, < Spanish < Latin fēsta; see feast
Explanation
A fiesta is a celebration or a party. Your parents might plan a fiesta to celebrate your high school graduation. You can use the word fiesta for any party, but it usually refers to a large feast, festival, or very extravagant party. In Spanish, fiesta means "feast," and in many Spanish-speaking places, a fiesta celebrates a saint's day or other religious occasion. The word comes from the Latin festus, "festive, joyful, or merry."
Vocabulary lists containing fiesta
Cinco de Mayo: Words to Celebrate Mexico
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Mexico - Introductory
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Mexico - Middle School
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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:
“I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it,” he tells Jake early in the novel, before the fiesta, before a lot of things.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The sport just finished off a week-long celebration fiesta for Roger Federer leading into his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
His big smile and bright colours make him a fan-favourite at Bristol's annual fiesta.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
Outside in the square the fiesta was going on.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Shops remained closed, bread was in short supply and Ceuta's annual fiestas have been cancelled as Spain's North African enclave struggled to cope after thousands of migrants poured in from neighbouring Morocco.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
“Every barangay had specialty cooks who were called upon during happy occasions like fiestas and weddings. It’s just a matter of harnessing this cultural tradition.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2022
Valencia regional government Deputy President Aitana Mas has left the door open to debate whether to prohibit these kinds of fiestas, saying that the current legislation is “not enough.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
Villages and towns across Spain hold the fiestas but they were prohibited last year as the country brought in tough health restrictions.
From Reuters ● Sep. 5, 2021
El Patron’s voice filled with wonder as he described the hacienda where he had attended fiestas so long ago.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
