# festival

Pronunciation: US say "FES-tuh-vuhl" /ˈfɛstəv(ə)l/; UK say "FES-ti-vuhl" /ˈfɛstɪvl̩/

## Noun

1. A special event or program of events that celebrates or promotes a particular theme or part of community life, and often recurs at regular intervals.
   - Simple: A special event where people come together to celebrate something, like music, food, or art.
   - _The film festival draws directors and critics from around the world each spring._
   - _Local farms sponsor the harvest festival, setting up stalls along the main street._
2. A day or period of religious feasting and celebration, such as a feast in a church calendar or the rites held in honor of a god.
   - Simple: A special day or time when people celebrate something in their religion, often with food and ceremonies.
   - _The Festival of Tabernacles lasted seven days, during which families lived in temporary shelters._
   - _Pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem three times a year for the major festivals._
4. A bread made from cornmeal and fried in oil. *(Caribbean, Jamaica)*
   - Simple: A kind of fried bread made with cornmeal.
   - _The roadside stall served jerk pork with festival and fried plantain._
   - _He tore off a piece of festival and dipped it in the pepper sauce._

## Adjective

3. Describing something that belongs to or is used on a feast or feast day, or that is festive in character, as in festival clothes or a festival meal.
   - Simple: Connected to a feast or holiday, or full of celebration.
   - _By midday the old town had taken on a festival atmosphere, with lanterns strung between the houses and families crowding the square for the saint's day._
   - _Villagers in festival dress filled the lanes on the saint's day._

## Origin

This came through Middle English and Old French festival ('festive'), from Late Latin fēstīvālis and Latin fēstīvus ('festive'): essentially 'festive' plus '-al'. The noun is a shortened form of 'festival day' (Middle English festival dai, 'feast day'), and it displaced the native Old English word frēols.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/festival (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).