Celebrating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Partaking in enjoyable activities to acknowledge a noteworthy event
2. Observing a significant occasion with festivities and merriment
3. Engaging in festivities or ceremonies to honor an important day or achievement

Etymology: The Latin verb "celebrare" originally meant to crowd into a place, not to party. Its base, "celeber," described a spot that was frequented or populous, so to "celebrate" a place was to fill it with people. From there the sense shifted toward attending something in large numbers, then toward honoring and praising, and only later toward marking an occasion with ceremony and joy. English took the word from Latin's past participle "celebratus" in Middle English, and it pushed aside two native Old English verbs, "fægnian" and "frēolsian," which expressed the idea of rejoicing. That means the modern sense of festivity rests on a borrowed word whose ancestors had no interest in merriment at all. The present participle "celebrating" simply carries that same sense of observing an occasion with festivities and merriment into an ongoing action.

Synonyms: commemorating, observing, marking