CARNIVAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does carnival mean? 

• CARNIVAL (noun)
  The noun CARNIVAL has 3 senses:

1. a festival marked by merrymaking and processions

2. a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

3. a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.

  Familiarity information: CARNIVAL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARNIVAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A festival marked by merrymaking and processions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("carnival" is a kind of...):

festival; fete (an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "carnival"):

Fat Tuesday; Mardi Gras (a carnival held in some countries on Shrove Tuesday (the last day before Lent) but especially in New Orleans)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carnival; circus

Context example:

the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere

Hypernyms ("carnival" is a kind of...):

disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carnival; fair; funfair

Hypernyms ("carnival" is a kind of...):

show (the act of publicly exhibiting or entertaining)

Meronyms (parts of "carnival"):

midway (the place at a fair or carnival where sideshows and similar amusements are located)

 Context examples 

Many nations are represented, many languages spoken, many costumes worn, and on a sunny day the spectacle is as gay and brilliant as a carnival.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There are great, frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held sometime her carnival.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This new visualization of a black hole illustrates how its gravity distorts our view, warping its surroundings as if seen in a carnival mirror.

(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)

The last twenty-four hours have witnessed a carnival of brutality.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If they will only hold their hands until the season is over, he promises them a royal carnival, when all grudges can he settled and the survivors may toss the non-survivors overboard and arrange a story as to how the missing men were lost at sea.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)