Adjacent Words

Bacchanalia definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an orgiastic festival in ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus (= Bacchus) [syn: Dionysia, Bacchanalia]
2: a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity [syn: orgy, debauch, debauchery, saturnalia, riot, bacchanal, bacchanalia, drunken revelry]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural bacchanalia) Etymology: Latin, from Bacchus Date: 1591 1. plural, capitalized a Roman festival of Bacchus celebrated with dancing, song, and revelry 2. a. orgy 2 b. orgy 3 • bacchanalian adjective or noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n.pl. 1 the Roman festival of Bacchus. 2 (bacchanalia) a drunken revelry. Derivatives: Bacchanalian adj. & n. Etymology: L, neut. pl. of bacchanalis: see BACCHANAL

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bacchanalia Bac`cha*na"li*a, n. pl. [L. Bacchanal a place devoted to Bacchus; in the pl. Bacchanalia a feast of Bacchus, fr. Bacchus the god of wine, Gr. ?] 1. (Myth.) A feast or an orgy in honor of Bacchus. 2. Hence: A drunken feast; drunken reveler.