n.
- An occasion for feasting or celebration, especially a day or time of religious significance that recurs at regular intervals.
- An often regularly recurring program of cultural performances, exhibitions, or competitions: a film festival.
- Revelry; conviviality.
Of, relating to, or suitable for a feast or festival; festive.
[From Middle English, festive, from Old French, from Medieval Latin fēstivālis, from Latin fēstīvus, from fēstus.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
