Library / English Dictionary

CELEBRATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Assign great social importance to

Example:

The tenor was lionized in Vienna

Synonyms:

celebrate; lionise; lionize

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "celebrate" is one way to...):

abide by; honor; honour; observe; respect (show respect towards)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have a celebration

Example:

After the exam, the students were celebrating

Synonyms:

celebrate; fete

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "celebrate" is one way to...):

get together; meet (get together socially or for a specific purpose)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "celebrate"):

jubilate (celebrate a jubilee)

jollify; make happy; make merry; make whoopie; racket; revel; wassail; whoop it up (celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities)

party (have or participate in a party)

receive (have or give a reception)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

celebrant (a person who is celebrating)

celebration (any joyous diversion)

celebration (a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event)

celebrator (a person who is celebrating)

celebratory (used for celebrating)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Behave as expected during of holidays or rites

Example:

Observe Yom Kippur

Synonyms:

celebrate; keep; observe

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "celebrate"):

commemorate; mark (celebrate by some ceremony or observation)

mourn (observe the customs of mourning after the death of a loved one)

solemnise; solemnize (observe or perform with dignity or gravity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

celebrant (a person who is celebrating)

celebration (any joyous diversion)

celebration (the public performance of a sacrament or solemn ceremony with all appropriate ritual)

celebration (a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event)

celebrator (a person who is celebrating)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Christmas and the New Year had been celebrated at Gateshead with the usual festive cheer; presents had been interchanged, dinners and evening parties given.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I should never have known you under that moustache, and I daresay you would not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume is your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He allowed your crimes to be great, but that still there was room for mercy, the most commendable virtue in a prince, and for which his majesty was so justly celebrated.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Then, unable to settle down to reading, I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated criminals with which every wall was adorned.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it celebrated its 41st anniversary Thursday (Apr. 24), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) unveiled the largest genetic repository in Latin America, which can store up to 750,000 seed samples.

(LatAm's largest gene bank unveiled in Brasília, Agência BRASIL)

For my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your fellows who do what they call good.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The instrument was unlocked, every body prepared to be charmed, and Marianne, who sang very well, at their request went through the chief of the songs which Lady Middleton had brought into the family on her marriage, and which perhaps had lain ever since in the same position on the pianoforte, for her ladyship had celebrated that event by giving up music, although by her mother's account, she had played extremely well, and by her own was very fond of it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The people greeted Dorothy kindly, and invited her to supper and to pass the night with them; for this was the home of one of the richest Munchkins in the land, and his friends were gathered with him to celebrate their freedom from the bondage of the Wicked Witch.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Mr. Spenlow remarked, on this occasion, when we concluded our business, that he should have been happy to have seen me at his house at Norwood to celebrate our becoming connected, but for his domestic arrangements being in some disorder, on account of the expected return of his daughter from finishing her education at Paris.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Meg cheerfully blackened and burned her white hands cooking delicate messes for 'the dear', while Amy, a loyal slave of the ring, celebrated her return by giving away as many of her treasures as she could prevail on her sisters to accept.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)