saturnalia

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
Now, however, the saturnalia is about over.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. plural noun The ancient Roman seven-day festival of Saturn, which began on December 17.
  2. plural noun A celebration marked by unrestrained revelry and often licentiousness; an orgy.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Still, though the least, it is far too great for the safety of the country; and after the saturnalia which the shameful supineness and cowardice of Ministers have allowed, I know not how popular commotion is to be avoided. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of the Court of George IV., Vol. I, by The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
  • But after watching the $150 million imperial saturnalia, augmented by the siren songs of fawners, spin doctors, and state mouthpieces, despair and anxiety rage inside my battered brain. —  Politics in the Zeros
  • Now, however, the saturnalia is about over. —  The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52
  • Hoh! Hoh The Sun Man is dead (As darkness increases the dance grows into a saturnalia, until complete darkness settles down and hides the hillside.) —  The Acorn-Planter A California Forest Play (1916)
  • The howling of the circus girls up on the rocks paralyzed my faculties It was a hideous saturnalia, and deafened by the brass and percussion instruments I tried to get away, but my neighbors protested and I was forced to sit and suffer. —  Old Fogy His Musical Opinions and Grotesques
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 37 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin Sāturnālia, from neuter pl. of Sāturnālis, Saturnian, from Sāturnus, Saturn; see Saturn.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

chasm · potent · gotten · glade · verst

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket