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The noun festoon first appeared in the 1600s when it was used, as it still is today, to refer to decorative chains or strips hung between two points. (It can also refer to a carved, molded, or painted ornament representing such a chain.) After a century’s worth of festoon-adorning, the verb festoon made an entrance, and people began to festoon with their festoons—that is, they draped and adorned with them. The verb has since then acquired additional, more general senses related not only to decorating, but to something appearing on the surface of something, as in “a sweater festooned with purple unicorns.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, this celebratory-sounding and party-associated word traces back (by way of French and Italian) to Latin festa, the plural of festum, meaning “festival.”
Synonyms
Examples of festoon in a Sentence
Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 21 May 2024
Bougainvillea festoons pathways in a riot of color, from coral and yellow to magenta, Jaipur pink, and mauve.
—Vasudha Rai, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2023
Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2024
Outside the studio, the walls are festooned with memorabilia bearing his image: paintings, photographs, vinyl records, cereal boxes.
—Stephania Taladrid, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Festoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/festoon. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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festoon
1 of 2 noun
festoon
2 of 2 verb
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