What does "carnival" mean?
Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.
Carnival
/ˈkɑːnɪvəl/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.
- Grammar: carnival is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: fair, funfair, advent, allhallowmas.
- Useful contrasts: dreariness, dull, gloomy.
- Usage evidence: If we had been in Venice a month prior, we could have taken part in the carnival.
How to use "carnival"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.
"Carnival of Brazil"
- 2 Alternative form of carnival; especially in the sense "any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent." alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
"To the statement above we may, of course, add that a far greater number have never had the “luck” of seeing a Continental Fair;— the Carnivals of Italy, of France,—a Russian Fair,—or the Carnivals and Jahrmarkts of Germany."
- 3 a festival marked by merrymaking and processions wordnet
- 4 A festive occasion marked by parades and sometimes special foods and other entertainment.
"Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth."
- 5 a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc. wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English. US
"We all got to ride the merry-go-round when they brought their carnival to town."
- 7 a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment wordnet
- 8 A context in which transgression or inversion of the social order is given temporary license. Derived from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin.
"The social environment contains the ambiguous traces of carnival: it resists the ideology of capitalism and, at the same time, reproduces the capitalist social order."
- 9 A gaudily chaotic situation. figuratively
"a carnival of idiocy"
Verb
- 1 To participate in a carnival. informal, rare
- 2 To move about playfully or wildly. literary
"The spot is a marvel of beauty and taste; and here, where dust and sun carnivaled for so many years, thousands of every class congregate to listen each evening to music discoursed for the amusement of oi polloi."
Proper Noun
- 1 The season just before the beginning of the Western Christian season of Lent.
Antonyms
Example
"If we had been in Venice a month prior, we could have taken part in the carnival."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "carnival"?
Common synonyms include: fair, funfair, advent, allhallowmas, allhallows, allhallowtide.
How do you use "carnival" in a sentence?
If we had been in Venice a month prior, we could have taken part in the carnival.
How do you pronounce "carnival"?
Pronounced /ˈkɑːnɪvəl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle French carnaval, from Italian carnevale, possibly from the Latin phrase carnem levāmen (“meat dismissal”). Other scholars suggest Latin carnuālia (“meat-based country feast”) or carrus nāvālis (“boat wagon; float”) instead. Doublet of carnaval.
Etymology 2
See carnival.