Adjacent Words

Festival definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FES'TIVAL, a. [L. festivus, from festus, or festum or fasti. See Feast.]
Pertaining to a feast; joyous; mirthful; as a festival entertainment.
FES'TIVAL, n. The time of feasting; an anniversary day of joy, civil or religious.
The morning trumpets festival proclaimed.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a day or period of time set aside for feasting and celebration
2: an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place); "a drama festival" [syn: festival, fete]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin festivus festive Date: 14th century of, relating to, appropriate to, or set apart as a festival II. noun Date: 1528 1. a. a time of celebration marked by special observances b. feast 2 2. an often periodic celebration or program of events or entertainment having a specified focus <a daffodil festival> <a Greek festival> 3. gaiety, conviviality

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a day or period of celebration, religious or secular. 2 a concentrated series of concerts, plays, etc., held regularly in a town etc. (Bath Festival). --attrib.adj. of or concerning a festival. Etymology: earlier as adj.: ME f. OF f. med.L festivalis (as FESTIVE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Festival Fes"ti*val, a. [OF. festival, fr. L. festivum festive jollity, fr. festivus festive, gay. See Festive.] Pertaining to a fest; festive; festal; appropriate to a festival; joyous; mirthful. I cannot woo in festival terms. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(festivals) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A festival is an organized series of events such as musical concerts or drama productions. Numerous Umbrian towns hold their own summer festivals of music, theatre, and dance... There are over 350 films in the Edinburgh Film Festival this year. N-COUNT 2. A festival is a day or time of the year when people have a holiday from work and celebrate some special event, often a religious event. ...the Hindu festival of Diwali. N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fes'-ti-val.

See FEASTS AND FASTS.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Feast, holiday, festive celebration, (joyful) anniversary, day of rejoicing, fête.

Moby Thesaurus

Mardi Gras, Saturnalia, anniversary, banquet, birthday, blowout, carnival, celebration, commemoration, do, entertainment, fair, feast, festive occasion, festivity, fete, field day, fiesta, gala, gala affair, gala day, great doings, high jinks, holiday, holy day, jamboree, kermis, party, picnic, red-letter day, waygoose, wayzgoose