THANKSGIVING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Thanksgiving mean? 

• THANKSGIVING (noun)
  The noun THANKSGIVING has 2 senses:

1. fourth Thursday in November in the United States; second Monday in October in Canada; commemorates a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag

2. a short prayer of thanks before a meal

  Familiarity information: THANKSGIVING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THANKSGIVING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fourth Thursday in November in the United States; second Monday in October in Canada; commemorates a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving Day

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

feast day; fete day (a day designated for feasting)

legal holiday; national holiday; public holiday (authorized by law and limiting work or official business)

Holonyms ("Thanksgiving" is a part of...):

Nov; November (the month following October and preceding December)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A short prayer of thanks before a meal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

blessing; grace; thanksgiving

Context example:

their youngest son said grace

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

orison; petition; prayer (reverent petition to a deity)

 Context examples 

I turned my prayer to thanksgiving: the Source of Life was also the Saviour of spirits.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The family cardcase having done its duty the girls walked on, and Jo uttered another thanksgiving on reaching the fifth house, and being told that the young ladies were engaged.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Next Thanksgiving you'll have dinner with me in Delmonico's," he said cheerily; "or in London, or Paris, or anywhere you wish. I know it."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Composed of more than 1,000 images taken during the 2019 Thanksgiving holiday and carefully assembled over the ensuing months, the composite contains 1.8 billion pixels of Martian landscape.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Snaps Its Highest-Resolution Panorama Yet, NASA)

In the United States, we have Thanksgiving on November 28, as it falls very late this year, giving remarkably fewer days than usual for holiday shopping.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

They were taken between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, when the mission team was out for the Thanksgiving holiday.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Snaps Its Highest-Resolution Panorama Yet, NASA)

Thanksgiving found him with his black suit in pawn and unable to accept the Morses' invitation to dinner.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I rose from the thanksgiving—took a resolve—and lay down, unscared, enlightened—eager but for the daylight.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It seems this year you will be especially generous in your gift giving, so have fun shopping, starting on Black Friday (November 29) and Cyber Monday (December 2) when you will be presented with great bargains. (For my readers outside the US, those dates are associated with our Thanksgiving holiday, Thursday, November 28.)

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

She had come to make certain whether or not he would be at their table for Thanksgiving dinner; but before she could broach the subject Martin plunged into the one with which he was full.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)