a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
any day of exemption from work (distinguished from working day).
a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc..
New businesses may be granted a one-year tax holiday.
a religious feast day; holy day, especially any of several usually commemorative holy days observed in Judaism.
Chiefly British. Sometimes holidays. a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.
an unintentional gap left on a plated, coated, or painted surface.
of or relating to a festival; festive; joyous.
a holiday mood.
suitable for a holiday.
holiday attire.
(often plural)
US and Canadian word: vacation. a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation
( as modifier )
a holiday mood
a day on which work is suspended by law or custom, such as a religious festival, bank holiday, etc
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English hāligdæg; equivalent to holy + day
A holiday celebrates a person, anniversary, religious belief or other occasion. You might observe the Indian holiday of Holi, and take a week off of work to celebrate with your family. A holiday is an occasion recognized by the state or federal government and marked on calendars, like Thanksgiving in the United States. Most holidays are celebratory and fun, and just about all of them mean no work or school. You can also take a holiday, or vacation. Holiday comes from "holy" and "day," meaning a religious festival, and the word was even pronounced that way until the sixteenth century.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In modern Europe, August is the month when everyone seems to be on holiday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
He added that it was "wrong" to make major educational policy announcements in the middle of the school summer holiday.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Around 220,000 people have been evacuated in the region, with 45 campsites forced to shut, ruining the holiday plans of around 40,000 people.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Sarah from Hertfordshire realised that her family would have to cut their week-long holiday in Bordeaux short because of the smoke.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
New Year's in New Orleans was Ella's favorite holiday tradition.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Featuring in cinema classics like "Roman Holiday" and "La Dolce Vita", the Vespa has a long association with the Eternal City.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
And so, over Juneteenth weekend nearly 200 members of the Rosenthal family descended on the Holiday Inn in Alexandria, a city of about 43,000 in the center of Louisiana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Surge, a very special Friday Federal Holiday edition that makes a great reading companion to your steak-and-sauerkraut breakfast.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2026
Other attractions include activations with the Clippers, Kings, Sparks and LAFC, and fashion and streetwear from HYPLAND, Holiday, Vandy The Pink and Research Vintage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
But before more could be said, the footlights were lit, the curtain rose, and Pirates on Holiday began.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
But in France, Marielle Mourgeon was among 4,000 people forced to cut holidays short in the seaside village of Lacanau, near Bordeaux, after authorities ordered camping sites evacuates as a precaution.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Local families and people that are travelling for holidays are the core of our business, especially through August," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Formula 1 is now on its summer holidays with a four-week break before the next race, the Dutch Grand Prix from 21-23 August.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
In 2022, José Gutiérrez, a Mexican-born architect and U.S. citizen who lived in Ohio, was in Zacatecas while visiting his fiancee for the Christmas holidays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Squirrels scurry across the pentagonal deck, a space reserved for guests, holidays, and serious Choi family conversations.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
He had holidayed with Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and made connections with Mark Burnett, the TV producer of the Apprentice, the show that sparked Trump's rise to power.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
In a video statement issued from the hospital, he appeared to be in good spirits and said he had holidayed at the Sea of Galilee without properly protecting himself from a heatwave.
From Reuters ● Jul. 16, 2023
However, since the end of the Ashes they have holidayed in beautiful Queenstown, played golf, been surfing and climbed the picturesque mountain that gives Mount Maunganui its name.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2022
As Benedict had holidayed in the diocese, and spent at least part of his time at the priest’s former place of work with his successor, the experts said they suspect he knew about the conviction.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2022
Our entire family, dad, mum, my two brothers and I, had holidayed at their place a year earlier.
From Free from School by Alvares, Rahul
Speaking to AFP by phone, a Moscow resident holidaying in Feodosia on Crimea's southeastern coast said earlier this week that "everyone is afraid: locals and visitors alike."
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Three people died after the rare rat-borne hantavirus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
The other two Britons who died since 2023 were Jane Pressley, 62, of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, who died in January three years ago after falling ill while holidaying on Sal the previous November.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
Many of them were reportedly holidaying at caravan camps.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
The earliest account we have of a Lethifold was written by the wizard Flavius Belby, who was fortunate enough to survive a Lethifold attack in 1782 while holidaying in Papua New Guinea.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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.
