festival

Meaning

Adj

Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)

Noun

1. A feast or feast day.
2. An event or series of special events centred on the celebration or promotion of some theme or aspect of the community, often held at regular intervals.
3. In mythology, a set of celebrations in the honour of a god.
4. Fried cornbread.

Concepts

festival

celebration

feast

holiday

party

carnival

festivity

fete

fiesta

festivities

fair

jubilee

gala

festive day

ritual

season

ceremony

carney

carnie

festive occasion

bazaar

market

anniversary

banquet

function

congratulation

annual fair

trade fair

pattern

fast

religious ceremony

religious service

rites

festival season

red-letter day

a festivity

an annual holiday

public holiday

seasonal festival

convivial

joyous

ball

entertainment

gaudy

gauds

jollification

affair

feast day

harvest

dance

song

show

jollity

date

celebratory

merry

binge

merrymaking

spree

pageant

jubilee pattern

traditional feast

joyous occasion

social gathering

fête

Christmas

period

festiveness

memorialisation

memorialization

Hyphenated as

fes‧tiv‧al

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈfɛstɪvl̩/

Etymology

From Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”).