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festivity

American  
[fe-stiv-i-tee] / fɛˈstɪv ɪ ti /

noun

PLURAL

festivities

  1. a festive celebration or occasion.

  2. festivities, festive events or activities.

    the festivities of Christmas.

  3. festive character or quality; gaiety; merriment.

festivity British  
/ fɛsˈtɪvɪtɪ /

noun

  1. merriment characteristic of a festival, party, etc

  2. any festival or other celebration

  3. (plural) festive proceedings; celebrations

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of festivity

1350–1400; Middle English festivite (< Old French ) < Latin fēstīvitās. See festive, -ity

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You can bring up a fun moment from the festivities or reiterate that you had a nice time.

From MarketWatch

As the weather chills and the calendar fills with festivities, I reach for hard apple cider.

From The Wall Street Journal

Canned answers to prying questions about career mistakes and bumps in our personal lives must be at the ready the moment the festivities begin.

From Salon

Sook, against Buddy’s wishes, has invited Odd to the festivities, hoping for a truce.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the early 1800s, the town’s Afro-Colombian population was enslaved and forced to work through December, attending to slaveholders’ holiday festivities.

From New York Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.