Word.ws English Dictionary

party like it's 1999

party like it's 1999 verb: to party intensely, particularly when reckless or pessimistic.

Verb

party like it's 1999 (third-person singular simple present parties like it's 1999, present participle partying like it's 1999, simple past and past participle partied like it was 1999 or partied like it's 1999)

  1. (idiomatic, simile) To party intensely, particularly when reckless or pessimistic.
    • This past year the girls in Laughlin worked hard at protesting Chatham's prohibition and at getting a reputation for the best parties in town. They succeeded at living up to their theme — Party Like it's 1999!1983, “Laughlin Hall”, in Amita Chaudhary, editor, Cornerstone, Chatham College, page 117
    • The European Union is not an organisation to do things by halves, particularly when it comes to a celebration. This time Europe will party like it's 1999. Or more precisely 1 May, 2004.2004 April 18, Kamal Ahmed, “EU approves €6m welcome party for new members”, in The Guardian

Forms of party like it's 1999

third-person singular presentparties like it's 1999
present participlepartying like it's 1999
past participlepartied like it was 1999
pastpartied like it was 1999
past participlepartied like it's 1999
pastpartied like it's 1999

Origin of party like it's 1999

From the Prince song called 1999 and released in 1982. The song uses the phrase in reference to a nuclear apocalypse predicted to occur in the year 2000, but it was later reinterpreted as meaning that the turn of the millennium calls for a particularly large celebration.

Questions about party like it's 1999

What does party like it's 1999 mean?
Party like it's 1999 means to party intensely, particularly when reckless or pessimistic.
What part of speech is party like it's 1999?
Party like it's 1999 is a verb.
What is the past tense of party like it's 1999?
The past tense of party like it's 1999 is partied like it was 1999.

Words near party like it's 1999 in the dictionary

  1. party in one's mouth
  2. party juries
  3. party jury
  4. party leader
  5. party leaders
  6. party like it's 1999
  7. party line
  8. party lines
  9. party list
  10. party lists
  11. party man

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: party like it's 1999 (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.

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