Halloween
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What is Halloween? Halloween is a holiday on October 31 that’s essentially a celebration of spooky and scary stuff, like ghosts, witches, monsters, and haunted houses. It’s traditionally celebrated by dressing in costumes, decorating with things like jack-o’-lanterns (carved pumpkins) and fake spiderwebs, and trick or treating—going door to door to collect candy or other treats from people who are giving it out. The trick part of trick or treat is a reference to the pranks that kids sometimes play on Halloween. Halloween is especially celebrated by children, but teens and adults commonly celebrate it, too, such as by having parties (often costume parties), watching scary movies, giving out candy to kids, eating some of that candy, and then eating some of the candy that kids bring home. Halloween is a secular (nonreligious) holiday, but its name has roots in the Christian holiday Allhallows, better known as All Saints’ Day. Another name for Halloween is Allhallows Eve (the night before Allhallows). Halloween is commonly used as a modifier in phrases like Halloween costume, Halloween party, Halloween candy, and Halloween night. Example: Don’t give me this trunk or treat stuff—I want a classic Halloween, with trick or treating and haunted houses and my neighbor disguising himself as a stuffed scarecrow so he can pop up and scare kids when they try to take more than one piece of candy from the bowl.
Etymology
Origin of Halloween
First recorded in 1550–60; (All)hallow(s) + e(v)en 2
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.
The one-day, one-park promotion runs from July 20 through October 8, a timeframe that includes Halloween celebrations at Disneyland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Of course Halloween was better when I was a kid.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
A sugar-obsessed child of the 1960s, fixated on Milky Ways, Pom Poms and Mallo Cups, I’ve mostly given up sweets—even my grandchildrens’ Halloween stashes don’t interest me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Bhekisani Matabiswana, 27, did not know his victim but both had attended a Halloween party at Rosemount Working Men's Club in the town that night.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
But by the time it's nearly Halloween, everyone’s excitement makes school even louder than usual.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
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.
