festival

1 of 2

adjective

fes·​ti·​val ˈfe-stə-vəl 

: of, relating to, appropriate to, or set apart as a festival

festival

2 of 2

noun

1

a

: a time of celebration marked by special observances

b

: feast sense 2

2

: an often periodic celebration or program of events or entertainment having a specified focus

a daffodil festival

a Greek festival

3

: gaiety, conviviality

Synonyms

Noun

• celebration
• festivity

Examples of festival in a Sentence

Noun

Each year, a festival was held to celebrate the harvest.

The town has a summer festival in the park.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

More festival details will be shared in the coming weeks. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2025

The festival partners with Scottsdale Arts to curate a lineup of emerging local artists, with a portion of proceeds supporting Scottsdale Arts. —Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 6 Aug. 2025

Noun

The new agreement expands the current relationship into all five verticals of AEG’s business: venues, festivals, touring, the AXS ticketing platform and sports teams, and makes Amex the official payment partner of AEG at 40 properties on four continents. —Brendan Coffey, Sportico.com, 7 Aug. 2025

The festival runs from 11:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. all three days; admission is free until 4 p.m. Friday, and until 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. —Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 7 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin festivus festive

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing festival

• mooncake festival
• moon festival

Kids Definition

festival

noun

fes·​ti·​val

ˈfes-tə-vəl

1

: a time of celebration in honor of a special occasion

2

: an often regularly occurring program of events or entertainment

festival adjective

Etymology

Noun

from earlier festival (adjective), derived from early French festival "festive," from Latin festivus "festive," from festum (noun) "festival, feast" — related to feast, fiesta