cocktail party

noun

: an informal or semiformal party or gathering at which cocktails are served

Examples of cocktail party in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On Friday afternoon, Disney’s marketing team hosted a cocktail party for influencers. — Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026

The idea is that doing this has some real-world parallels, both in scientific discovery but also in lots of other real world settings (think office politics or cocktail parties) where the rules of how to operate are not written down. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 18 Aug. 2026

And somehow — because this is how life on the cocktail party circuit works sometimes — their paths converged, maybe 30 yards from Babe Ruth’s plaque and just around the corner from the goosebumpy Ted Williams sculpture. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 27 July 2026

The living room, meanwhile, was large enough for an intimate cocktail party, with a wet bar and plenty of comfortable seating. — Denny Lee, Travel + Leisure, 26 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cocktail party

• counterparty
• multiparty
• arty
• carty
• hearty
• parti
• astarte
• mccarty
• nonparty