Celebrations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of marking a notable occasion with joy and festivities
2. Gatherings or activities to honor important events or milestones
3. Parties or ceremonies held to commemorate significant moments or achievements

Etymology: "Celebrations" is simply the plural of "celebration", so its history is that of the singular noun. The singular came into English from Old French "celebration", which itself was taken from Latin "celebratio", a noun meaning a frequenting, a performance or a solemn observance. Its root is the Latin verb "celebrare", meaning to frequent, to honour with a crowd, or to perform a rite in public, and the English verb "celebrate" grew from the same source. The word is built from two parts. The first is "celebrate", which carries the sense of observing something with ceremony or festivity, and the second is the suffix "-ion", which turns a verb into a noun naming an action or its result. A celebration is therefore literally the act of celebrating, and the plural form simply counts separate occasions of that act.

Synonyms: festivities, observances, parties, commemorations, gatherings

Antonyms: mourning, sorrow, grieving