Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as bacchanal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the festival of Bacchus; relating to or given to reveling and drunkenness.
  • noun A bacchanal; a drunken reveler.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative capitalization of Bacchanalian

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective used of riotously drunken merrymaking

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The $500,000 afterparty, held in a club specially constructed backstage at Wembley just for the night, was a bacchanalian eyeful that featured acrobats swinging overhead and nearly naked dancers gyrating in cages.

    William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011

  • Naturally, such bacchanalian and sybaritic efforts resulted in rock n' roll suicides -- so to speak -- indigenous to the region, such as the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Steve Took of '70s glam duo T.

    Shana Ting Lipton: Rock, Riots, Rebellion and the Real Notting Hill Shana Ting Lipton 2011

  • But Daytona Beach's bacchanalian atmosphere is part of the allure for domestic missionaries -- it's what's called "battleground evangelism."

    Where Would Jesus Spend Spring Break? 2009

  • At a bacchanalian soiree thrown by students from Johns Hopkins University, for example, Kate nursed one glass of wine the entire evening.

    William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011

  • It's a conceit that would ring false with David Threlfall's wild, bacchanalian Chatsworth patriarch but William H Macy's Frank is a more sensitive, caring soul, who uses his extended period of sobriety to connect with the kids.

    TV highlights 11/08/2011: The Culture Show At The Edinburgh Festival | Torchwood: Miracle Day | The Killing | The Forgotten Blitz | Little Box Of Horrors | Shameless US 2011

  • The $500,000 afterparty, held in a club specially constructed backstage at Wembley just for the night, was a bacchanalian eyeful that featured acrobats swinging overhead and nearly naked dancers gyrating in cages.

    William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011

  • But in appearance he still ruled, dozing oft-times at the board, a bacchanalian ruin, yet in all seeming the ruler of the feast.

    The Wit of Porportuk 2010

  • Not only has the show reached its 15th anniversary but tonight also brings the return of the annual jamboree Hollyoaks Later, during which Hollyoaks gets to pretend it is Skins: showing flesh, gleefully swearing and generally revelling in the bacchanalian Arcadia that is post-watershed E4.

    The post-watershed wonder of Hollyoaks Later is worth celebrating Dan Martin 2010

  • At a bacchanalian soiree thrown by students from Johns Hopkins University, for example, Kate nursed one glass of wine the entire evening.

    William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011

  • In between two circumnavigations of the globe he bought the best vineyards in the village and founded La Paulée de Meursault, the bacchanalian postharvest feast that survives to this day.

    A Place of Great Whites Confronts a Dark Mystery Jay McInerney 2011

Comments

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  • "The noisy revels of bacchanalians in the Inner Sanctuary could not be more unwelcome sounds to devout worshipers than was my peal of the party toscin in the ears of those who glorified the 'Era of Good Feeling.'"

    --- Martin Van Buren, on political parties, as quoted by James Ceaser in Presidential Selection

    May 28, 2008

  • Why can I never remember this word while I'm actually at a bacchanalia?

    May 28, 2008