festive

fes·tive

adjective \ˈfes-tiv\

: cheerful and exciting : suited to a celebration or holiday

: of or relating to Christmas

Full Definition of FESTIVE

1

:  of, relating to, or suitable for a feast or festival <a festive occasion>

2

:  joyful, gay <a festive mood>

— fes·tive·ly adverb

— fes·tive·ness noun

Examples of FESTIVE

1. The house looks very festive during the holidays.
2. She was in a festive mood.
3. The reunion will be a festive occasion.

Origin of FESTIVE

Latin festivus, from festum

First Known Use: 1613

Related to FESTIVE

Synonyms

blithesome, merry, gay, gleeful, jocose, jocular, jocund, jolly, jovial, laughing, mirthful, sunny

Related Words

amused, beaming, chuckling, giggling, smiling; bright, buoyant, carefree, cheerful, cheery, chipper, lighthearted, lightsome, upbeat; animated, bouncing, frisky, jaunty, lively, peppy, perky, spirited, sprightful, sprightly, vivacious, zippy; blessed (also blest), blissful, delighted, ecstatic, elated, enraptured, entranced, euphoric, exhilarated, exuberant, exultant, gladsome, happy, high, joyful, joyous, jubilant, overjoyed, radiant, rapturous, ravished, thrilled, tickled; amusing, facetious, flippant, frolicsome, funny, hilarious, jesting, joking, joshing, playful, sportive, witty; cavalier, devil-may-care, easygoing, happy-go-lucky, insouciant, unconcerned; hopeful, optimistic, rosy, sanguine; antic, comic, comical, farcical, humorous, riotous, sidesplitting, uproarious

Near Antonyms

abject, aggrieved, anguished, blue, brokenhearted, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, disheartened, dispirited, downcast, downhearted, forlorn, glum, heartbroken, heartsick, heavyhearted, low-spirited, melancholy, sad, saddened, sorrowful, unhappy; crying, groaning, moaning, sobbing, wailing, weeping; discontented, disgruntled, moody; doleful, dolorous, joyless, lachrymose, lugubrious, mournful, plaintive, sorry, woeful; black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dark, depressing, desolate, dismal, dreary, gloomy, glum, gray (also grey), morose, saturnine, somber (or sombre), sullen; miserable, woebegone, wretched; dull, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid

Rhymes with FESTIVE

restive