Definitions for festival
ˈfɛs tə vəlfes·ti·val

Princeton's WordNet(2.50 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. festivalnoun

   a day or period of time set aside for feasting and celebration

2. festival, fetenoun

   an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place)

   "a drama festival"

Wiktionary(3.38 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. festivalnoun

   An event or community gathering, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community.

2. festivalnoun

   In mythology, a set of celebrations in the honour of a god.

3. festivaladjective

   Pertaining to a feast or feast-day. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)

4. Etymology: From festivalis, from festivus.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Festivaladjective

   pertaining to a fest; festive; festal; appropriate to a festival; joyous; mirthful

2. Etymology: [OF. festival, fr. L. festivum festive jollity, fr. festivus festive, gay. See Festive.]

Freebase(3.33 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Festival

   A festival or gala is an event ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival. Among many religions, a feast is a set of celebrations in honour of God or gods. A feast and a festival are historically interchangeable. However, the term "feast" has also entered common secular parlance as a synonym for any large or elaborate meal. When used as in the meaning of a festival, most often refers to a religious festival rather than a film or art festival. In the Philippines and many other former Spanish colonies, the Spanish word fiesta is used to denote a communal religious feast to honor a patron saint. In the Christian liturgical calendar there are two principal feasts, properly known as the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and the Feast of the Resurrection,. In the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican liturgical calendars there are a great number of lesser feasts throughout the year commemorating saints, sacred events, doctrines, etc.

Matched Categories

1. • Festivity
   • Time Period

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'festival' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3228

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'festival' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3899

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'festival' in Nouns Frequency: #1227

How to pronounce festival?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say festival in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of festival in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of festival in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of festival in a Sentence

1. Robbie Collin:

   It's the most exciting press conference I have been at, I think. Cannes isn't known for its revelatory press conferences but that felt like a weird cinematic event in itself, what remains fascinating about Godard and his work, is that is he is the only director in competition so far, possibly the only one in the entire festival, whose films defy being chewed over in the course of a tweet or a thread of tweets.

2. Marissa Lopez:

   Gilroy Garlic Festival's just so scary, i had a nephew who was there.

3. Blake Lively:

   I came home and went to bed at whatever time we finished, i haven’t been in it, so I don’t want to speak on something I haven’t read. I think that’s dangerous. It’s definitely something that being at the festival, the media these days, you come to a film festival about film and people talk about all different types of things. You know? That can be definitely tricky to navigate, I’m sure. I don’t want to speak about something I haven’t read.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson:

   Life is a festival only to the wise.

5. Anca Badiu:

   This festival says a lot about us, just the fact that we have world-renowned orchestras who come here to play, the Enescu festival equals Romania and music wipes away all of our problems.

Popularity rank by frequency of use