festival
Syllables: fes·tiv·alUK/ˈfɛstɪvəl//ˈfɛstəvəl/
festival adjective: pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.).
Adjective
festival (comparative more festival, superlative most festival)
- Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)
- the temple of the Gods […] / Whom all the people decke with girlands greene, / And honour in their festiuall resort […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Noun
festival (countable and uncountable, plural festivals)
- A feast or feast day.
- All your males are to appear three times a year before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed.2009, “Deuteronomy 16:16”, in Holman Christian Standard Bible
- 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.
- The Reading and Leeds festivals take place on the August bank holiday.
- A Welsh eisteddfod is a literary festival.
- In mythology, a set of celebrations in the honour of a god.
- Fried cornbread.
festival meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
festival in Hindi
- event or community gathering
- त्योहार tyohār, जश्न jaśn, उत्सव utsav, पर्व parv, मेला melā, ईद īd
festival in Tamil
- திருநாள், திருவிழா, கொண்டாட்டம், விழா, பண்டிகை
festival in Marathi
- festival
- सण saṇ, तेहेवार tehevār
festival in Urdu
- event or community gathering
- تِہْوار tihvār, عِید 'īd, جَشْن jaśn, میلَہ mela
More languagesFewer languages
- festival in Bengali
- উৎসব utśob
- festival in Telugu
- పండుగ paṇḍuga
- festival in Malayalam
- ഉത്സവം utsavaṁ, മേള mēḷa, പെരുന്നാൾ perunnāḷ
- festival in Kannada
- ಹಬ್ಬ habba
- festival in Punjabi
- ਮੇਲਾ melā
- festival in Gujarati
- ઓચ્છવ occhav, મહોચ્છવ mahocchav, તહેવાર tahevār
- festival in Odia
- ତିହାର୍ tihār, ଉତ୍ସବ utsaba
- festival in Sanskrit
- उत्सव utsava, महोत्सव mahotsava
- festival in Sinhala
- උත්සවය utsawaya, සැණකෙලිය sæṇakeliya
- festival in Assamese
- উৎসব utxobo
- festival in Nepali
- पर्व parva, चाड cāḍ
- festival in Pashto
- عيد 'id, جشن ǰašᶕn, فستيوال festiwāl
- festival in Arabic
- عِيد ʕīd, مَهْرَجَان mahrajān
- festival in Malay
- perayaan, festival
- festival in Indonesian
- festival, pesta, perayaan
- festival in Thai
- งานฉลอง ngaan-chà-lɔ̌ɔng, มหกรรม má-hà-gam
- festival in Vietnamese
- ngày hội, đại hội liên hoan, hội diễn, lễ hội
- festival in Myanmar
- ပွဲတော် pwai:tau, ပွဲ pwai:
Examples of festival in a sentence
- We had to change the dates of the festival because of the flooding.
- She lost her hearing after standing too close to the speaker at the festival.
- He made an appeal for volunteers to help at the festival.
Forms of festival
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more festival |
| superlative | most festival |
| alternative form (obsolete) | feastiuall |
| Noun | |
| plural | festivals |
Origin of festival
From Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). By surface analysis, festive + -al. Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”).
Words formed from festival
- Bon Festival
- Car Festival
- Chung Yueng Festival
- Da Jiu Festival
- Double Fifth Festival
- Double Ninth Festival
- Double Seventh Festival
- Dragon Boat Festival
- Dumpling Festival
- festie
- festivalgoer
- festivalist
- festivalization
- festivalize
- festivally
- Festival of Light
- Festival of Lights
- Festival of the Rosary
- Festival of Weeks
- festival seating
- festivalwear
- festy
- Ghost Festival
- harvest festival
- Hungry Ghost Festival
- Kaul festival
- Laba Festival
- Lantern Festival
- macrofestival
- Magpie Festival
- megafestival
- Mid-Autumn Festival
- minifestival
- nonfestival
- prefestival
- pride festival
- pseudofestival
- Pure Brightness Festival
- Qingming Festival
- Renaissance festival
- rocket festival
- snow festival
- Spring Festival
- Sweet Festival
- teknival
- Tomb Sweeping Festival
- Tuen Ng Festival
- winter festival
- Winterval
- Zhongqiu Festival
Phrases with festival
Questions about festival
- What does festival mean?
- Festival means pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.).
- What is festival in Hindi?
- Festival in Hindi is त्योहार (tyohār), जश्न (jaśn), उत्सव (utsav). See Festival meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is festival?
- Festival can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce festival?
- Festival is pronounced /ˈfɛstɪvəl/ (UK).
Words near festival in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: festival (page history and authors); festival (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); तेहेवार (Marathi) (page history and authors); ਮੇਲਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଉତ୍ସବ (Odia) (page history and authors); উৎসব (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-festival.ogg.
Cite this entry: “festival.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/festival. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.