Word.ws English Dictionary

unholiday

unholiday noun: a day or period of time which is not a holiday, but is celebrated as if it were one.

Noun

unholiday (plural unholidays)

  1. A day or period of time which is not a holiday, but is celebrated as if it were one.
    • Yet the most touching gifts are often the ones that come as unbirthday or unholiday or unanniverary gifts.2013, Patricia Spadaro, Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving, →ISBN
    • I guess this unholiday is exactly what we all needed today, she thought as she pulled into the driveway.2014, Lorraine Turner, Calico Horses and the Patchwork Trail, →ISBN

Adjective

unholiday (comparative more unholiday, superlative most unholiday)

  1. Grim or drab; the antithesis of festive.
    • An air of gaiety and festal enjoyment, which contrasts singularly with the unholiday appearance of men and things in the interior of the country, reigns on the waters of the bays and rivers in the vicinity of the cities to a surprising degree.1835, Charles Joseph Latrobe, The Rambler In North America Vol. I, page 30
    • O that unholiday look of English countenances, how sad it is!1856, Frederick William Faber, The Blessed Sacrament Or the Works and Ways of God, page 224

Examples of unholiday in a sentence

  • It being your unbirthday then you must be invited to boogie at the bank unholiday.2015, Douglas Gilbert, Alice In Wunderkinderland With a Hedgehog, →ISBN:
  • Even the unholiday drabness of the homespun dress could not dim the expectation with which she set out soon after daybreak.2010, Rosita G. Fanto, Lady of the Cards, →ISBN:

Synonyms of unholiday

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of unholiday

Noun
pluralunholidays
Adjective
comparativemore unholiday
superlativemost unholiday

Origin of unholiday

From un- + holiday.

Questions about unholiday

What does unholiday mean?
Unholiday means a day or period of time which is not a holiday, but is celebrated as if it were one.
How do you use unholiday in a sentence?
It being your unbirthday then you must be invited to boogie at the bank unholiday.
What part of speech is unholiday?
Unholiday can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of unholiday?
The plural of unholiday is unholidays.

Words near unholiday in the dictionary

  1. unholds
  2. unhole
  3. unholed
  4. unholes
  5. unholesome
  6. unholiday
  7. unholidays
  8. unholier
  9. unholiest
  10. unholily
  11. unholiness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unholiday (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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Cite this entry: “unholiday.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unholiday. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.