picnic

American  

[pik-nik] / ˈpɪk nɪk /

noun

1. an excursion or outing in which the participants carry food with them and share a meal in the open air.

2. the food eaten on such an excursion.

3. Also called picnic ham,.  Also called picnic shoulder.  a section of pork shoulder, usually boned, smoked, and weighing 4–6 pounds.

4. Informal. an enjoyable experience or time, easy task, etc..

   Being laid up in a hospital is no picnic.

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verb (used without object)

picnicked, picnicking

1. to go on or take part in a picnic.

picnic British  

/ ˈpɪknɪk /

noun

1. a trip or excursion to the country, seaside, etc, on which people bring food to be eaten in the open air

2. 1. any informal meal eaten outside

   2. ( as modifier )

      a picnic lunch

3. informal a troublesome situation or experience

4. informal a hard or disagreeable task

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verb

1. (intr) to eat a picnic

picnic Idioms  

1. see no picnic.

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Other Word Forms

• picnicker
  noun

Etymology

Origin of picnic

1740–50; < German Pic-nic (now Picknick ) < French pique-nique, rhyming compound < ?

Explanation

A picnic is a meal that you eat outside. For your birthday, you might take a picnic lunch (including celebratory cupcakes) to a nearby beach with some friends. You can use the word picnic for both the occasion — "Let's go on a picnic!" — and for the meal itself: "I am packing the best picnic to take on our hike." It's also a verb, meaning "to eat outside." And when a friend describes a difficult task and adds, "It was no picnic," they mean to emphasize how hard it was — the opposite of an easy, breezy picnic.

Example Sentences

At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

You can rent bikes, pick up a picnic or savor s’mores by the fire.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026

But during the day, couples picnic on dates, friends play frisbee and neighborhood dogs play-bark at each other.

From Salon • May 9, 2026

"We had a picnic in our front garden, which was their idea," she says.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026

We were all having a picnic together—Mira, Josie and her dad, Max and his parents, Ashley and her parents, Ivy’s entire family, and of course, me—while everyone tried to figure out why I hadn’t stopped.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• barbecue
• cookout
• excursion
• outing