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 has since become British and Commonwealth champion, but his immigration status prevents him from fighting abroad - or taking his family on 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
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
At first, he couldn’t figure out the purpose of a dreidel—a four-sided spinning top that’s played with during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
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
She recalls traveling on a tight budget and staying in a tiny Holiday Inn Express room in Hong Kong—where one creditor was based—that was so cramped she struggled to open her suitcase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 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
An early benefactor was his twin brother, Monty, who had taken over the Dallas hotel empire their father built from a single Holiday Inn and who donated a three-story Victorian in a neighborhood near Brown.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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
For many visitor attractions, the summer holidays are the busiest weeks of the year.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
Many are anxious about the fate of their homes, while others have had their holidays abruptly cut short.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
During the Christmas holidays in 1994, she'd been hospitalized again.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
The experience has, she says, changed the way she and her family have holidayed for good.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025
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
They are four of six Britons who died after holidaying there since January 2023, all of whose families are now making personal injury claims against package holiday firm Tui.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 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.
