carnival

1 of 2

noun

car·​ni·​val ˈkär-nə-vəl How to pronounce carnival (audio)
1
: a season or festival of merrymaking before Lent
2
a
: an instance of merrymaking, feasting, or masquerading
b
: an instance of riotous excess
a carnival of violence
3
a
: a traveling enterprise offering amusements
b
: an organized program of entertainment or exhibition : festival
a winter carnival

carnival

2 of 2

adjective

: suggestive of or suited to a carnival
a carnival atmosphere
carnival colors

Examples of carnival in a Sentence

Noun the school's annual winter carnival That part of town is a carnival on Friday and Saturday nights. There is a carnival atmosphere in the office. The garden became a carnival of color.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The Easter Bunny will be there for photos, along with crafts, carnival rides and a bunny trail egg hunt. Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2024 Festivities include bike rides, volleyball tournaments, cherry pie eating and cherry pit spitting competitions, arts and crafts, beer tents, carnival rides, and fireworks on the Fourth. Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press, 9 Mar. 2024 This annual celebration features all sorts of live entertainment from Celtic rock and bagpipes to Irish folk music and dancing, authentic Irish foods and beverages, an Irish marketplace with more than 250 vendors, a firefighters pancake breakfast, roaming leprechauns, carnival rides and a parade. Brittany Delay, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024 For those too young for a Jazz Age gala and too old for carnival games, Mannez Quarry filled with music and dancing into the early hours of the morning. Rebecca Panovka, Harper's Magazine, 9 Feb. 2024 The event attracts over 2.5 million people and includes livestock auctions, rodeo action in a 70,000-seat stadium, competitions, a carnival, barbecue and nightly concert lineups that have seen the likes of George Strait, Bon Jovi, Selena, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson and more. USA TODAY, 27 Feb. 2024 This year, New Orleans's carnival began on Jan. 6 and will end on Feb. 13 at midnight. Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 23 Feb. 2024 Asian-American communities rang in the Year of the Dragon with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post, 12 Feb. 2024 The 10-day carnival, which was marred by unseasonably warm weather, concludes Saturday with the Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade at 5:15 p.m. in downtown St. Paul. John Autey, Twin Cities, 4 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Customers at Starbucks will be introduced to a new interface with a carnival-style wheel. Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2023 The Square has spooky carnival-style games. Annie Alleman, Chicago Tribune, 12 Sep. 2022 Transform your salad spinner into a carnival-style spin art machine. Lauren Piro, Good Housekeeping, 31 Oct. 2022 The Children’s Zoo encouraged youngsters to feed and pet the animals, but eliminated carnival-style gimmicks that were common in zoos at the time. San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2022 Whitestown's family-friendly Independence Day Celebration will kick off at 6 p.m. with live music, carnival-style food, a ticketed kid's zone and a fireworks show once the sun goes down. Chloe McGowan, The Indianapolis Star, 27 June 2022 The Queen is also expected to attend the Derby, one of her favorite horse race events, a concert at Buckingham Palace and the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, a carnival-style celebration during which many artists, including Ed Sheeran, will perform. Monique Jessen, PEOPLE.com, 12 May 2022 Collecting all the later drama in one city offers a chance to create a carnival-style event, a miniature tournament within a tournament, a defining climax to the European campaign. New York Times, 29 Apr. 2022 On top of brand booths for Venmo, Spotify, Hawkers, Erewhon, 818 Tequila, Onda, Daring Foods, Good American, Celsius, Zip and Pley Beauty, Revolve Festival also featured carnival-style swings and plenty of photo opps. Kirsten Chuba, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Apr. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'carnival.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Italian carnevale, alteration of earlier carnelevare, literally, removal of meat, from carne flesh (from Latin carn-, caro) + levare to remove, from Latin, to raise

First Known Use

Noun

1549, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1605, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of carnival was in 1549

Dictionary Entries Near carnival

Cite this Entry

“Carnival.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carnival. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

carnival

noun
car·​ni·​val
ˈkär-nə-vəl
1
: a season or festival of merrymaking before Lent
2
: a noisy merrymaking
3
a
: a traveling group that puts on a variety of amusements
b
: a program of entertainment

More from Merriam-Webster on carnival

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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