Holiday definition

hŏlĭ-dā
holidays
See word origin
Frequency:
A day of freedom from labor; day set aside for leisure and recreation.
noun
14
4
Any period of freedom from something.

A weeklong sales-tax holiday.

noun
6
4
Suited to a holiday; merry, festive, etc.

A holiday atmosphere.

adjective
5
3
noun
8
7
To pass a holiday or vacation.
verb
3
3
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Of or associated with a holiday.

An extended holiday weekend.

adjective
1
1
Having to do with the year-end holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's.

Throngs of holiday shoppers.

adjective
1
1
A period of one or more days taken off work by an employee for leisure.
noun
1
1
A period during which pupils and students do not attend their school or university.

I want to take a French course this summer holiday.

noun
1
1
A period taken off work or study for travel or leisure.
noun
1
1
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noun
1
1
To take a period of time away from work or study.
verb
1
1
(chiefly brit.) A period of leisure or recreation; vacation.
noun
4
5
The definition of a holiday is a day where business is suspended in celebration of a specific event.

An example of a holiday is Christmas.

noun
1
2
(UK) To spend a period of time for travel.
verb
0
1
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A day set aside by law or custom for the suspension of business, usually in commemoration of some event.
noun
0
2
(chiefly brit.) To take a vacation or vacation trip.
verb
0
2
(person) (born Eleonora Fagan Holiday) 1915-59; U.S. jazz singer.
proper name
0
2
A day on which a festival, religious event, or national celebration is traditionally observed.

Today is a Wiccan holiday!

noun
0
2
A day declared free from work by the government.
noun
0
2
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A day free from work that one may spend at leisure, especially a day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate or celebrate a particular event.
noun
0
3
A religious feast day; a holy day.
noun
0
3
(chiefly british) A vacation. Often used in the phrase on holiday.
noun
0
3

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
holiday
Plural:
holidays

Origin of holiday

  • Middle English holidai holy day from Old English hālig dæg hālig holy holy dæg day day

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English holiday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (“holy day, Sabbath”), equivalent to holy +‎ day. Cognate with Danish helligdag (“holiday”), Swedish helgdag (“holiday, feast”), Norwegian helligdag (“holiday”).

    From Wiktionary

Holiday Sentence Examples

  • The holiday weekend passed pleasantly.

  • He was one of the founders of the Rochdale Literary and Philosophical Society, took a leading part in its debates, and on returning from a holiday journey in the East, gave the society a lecture on his travels.

  • The Ardennes are the holiday ground of the Belgian people, and much of this region is still unknown except to the few persons who by a happy chance have discovered its remoter and hitherto well-guarded charms. There is still an immense quantity of wild game to be found in the Ardennes, including red and roe deer, wild boar, &c. The shooting is preserved either by the few great landed proprietors left in the country, or by the communes, who let the right of shooting to individuals.

  • School was back in session after the holiday recess so the rink was nearly empty.

  • The you in my heaven is the person I create in my mind, the perfect you, who never drinks his milk from the cereal bowl and remembers every birthday and holiday with the nicest card he buys the day before, and he sends roses for no reason at all....

More sentences

Related articles

Words near holiday in the Dictionary