carnival

1 of 2

noun

car·​ni·​val ˈkär-nə-vəl 

1

: a season or festival of merrymaking before Lent

2

a

: an instance of merrymaking, feasting, or masquerading

b

: an instance of riotous excess

a carnival of violence

3

a

: a traveling enterprise offering amusements

b

: an organized program of entertainment or exhibition : festival

a winter carnival

carnival

2 of 2

adjective

: suggestive of or suited to a carnival

a carnival atmosphere

carnival colors

Synonyms

Noun

• celebration
• fest
• festival
• festivity
• fete
• fête
• fiesta
• gala
• jubilee

Examples of carnival in a Sentence

Noun

the school's annual winter carnival

That part of town is a carnival on Friday and Saturday nights.

There is a carnival atmosphere in the office.

The garden became a carnival of color.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Tamera Mowry-Housley plays Cheryl, a senator's aide who attends her hometown's winter carnival. —Nicole Briese, People.com, 16 Dec. 2024

Ashley’s original, which has made musical history books for its pioneering use of the then-new element of feedback, seems to have a had a more carnival/cabaret feel, including crowd noise. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 15 Dec. 2024

Adjective

Customers at Starbucks will be introduced to a new interface with a carnival-style wheel. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2023

The Square has spooky carnival-style games. —Annie Alleman, Chicago Tribune, 12 Sep. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Italian carnevale, alteration of earlier carnelevare, literally, removal of meat, from carne flesh (from Latin carn-, caro) + levare to remove, from Latin, to raise

First Known Use

Noun

1549, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1605, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

carnival

noun

car·​ni·​val

ˈkär-nə-vəl

1

: a season or festival of merrymaking before Lent

2

: a noisy merrymaking

3

a

: a traveling group that puts on a variety of amusements

b

: a program of entertainment