Yuletide
Americannoun
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the Christmas season.
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the season of an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.
adjective
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of or relating to the Christmas season.
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of or relating to the season of an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.
Usage
What does yuletide mean? Yuletide is sometimes used as another word for Christmastime—the Christmas season. The word yule can be used as another name for Christmas, the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It can also be used to mean the same thing as yuletide—the Christmas season. However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the Winter Solstice that’s observed in some Pagan traditions, and yuletide can be applied to the time when this is observed. Regardless of which holiday is being observed, yuletide occurs in late December. When it’s used in reference to Christmas, yuletide is often intended to sound a bit old-timey—yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and all that. Example: I cherish the yuletide memories of my youth, of sitting by the hearth and listening to tales of Christmases gone by.
Etymology
Origin of Yuletide
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.
Appeared in the December 20, 2025, print edition as 'A Merry Memoir of Yuletide Anarchy'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
On Dec. 16, the Churchtown Dairy in Claverack, New York, once again hosted a Yuletide tradition: caroling to the herd of 28 cattle that call the cathedral-like barn their winter home.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 24, 2023
Which parts of the UK have had the most success with topping the charts - and which meaty pastry staple features in almost as many Yuletide number ones as Christmas itself?
From BBC • Dec. 22, 2023
The song answers the question: “What if Ken was more devoted to seasonal Yuletide sounds than movie musical allusions?”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 20, 2023
“Get on the phone to Brown Thomas. The platinum set number. Reopen my account. Tell Hélène I want a Yuletide makeover. The works.”
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
