festoon

noun fes·toon \ fe-ˈstün \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Examples: festoon in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of festoon

1 : a decorative chain or strip hanging between two points

walls decorated with festoons of flowers

2 : a carved, molded, or painted ornament representing a decorative chain

Around the mirror were carved festoons of grapevines.

See festoon defined for English-language learners

See festoon defined for kids

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Recent Examples of festoon from the Web

Five minutes after beer became legal at midnight, a big truck, gay with festoons, rumbled to the service entrance of the White house, bearing two cases—a brewer’s gift to the president.

— sandiegouniontribune.com, "April 7 1933: New Beer's Day," 7 Apr. 2018
Inside the Little A'Le'Inn, pictures of UFO sightings, alien masks and military memorabilia decorate, festoon, cover and otherwise dominate the walls and ceiling.

— trevor hughes, USA TODAY, "Hunting for Area 51's aliens along Nevada's Extraterrestrial Highway," 29 Mar. 2018
Rustic figures The cave had collapsed some years earlier, but that didn’t obscure the rustic figures of animals, fish and humans in daubs of black, white and red that festoon the entry wall.

— brian j. cantwell, The Seattle Times, "From Loreto, 3 day-trip adventures in Baja’s high desert," 31 May 2017
Graffiti bearing the team's red dragons logo festoons the outside of the old stand, which is adorned with littered stairwells and poured cement with all the charm of an old prison.

— motez bishara, CNN, "Champions League final 2017: Zinedine Zidane's incredible journey from Cannes to Cardiff," 1 June 2017
Rustic figures The cave had collapsed some years earlier, but that didn’t obscure the rustic figures of animals, fish and humans in daubs of black, white and red that festoon the entry wall.

— brian j. cantwell, The Seattle Times, "From Loreto, 3 day-trip adventures in Baja’s high desert," 31 May 2017
In December, the council approved the design for the street, including a portion of the road ordained with overhead festoon lights.

— ryan gillespie, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Maitland moves forward in reshaping downtown," 27 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'festoon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Festoon can also be a verb that is used as a synonym of "decorate" or "adorn" (as in "the room was festooned with streamers and balloons"). The verb "festoon," which first appeared in the late 1700s, comes from the noun "festoon," which appeared over 100 years earlier. "Festoon" traces back (by way of French and Italian) to Latin festa, the plural of festum, meaning "festival." "Festa" is also an ancestor of the English noun "feast."

Origin and Etymology of festoon

French feston, from Italian festone, from festa festival, from Latin — more at feast

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1630

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

festoon

verb

Definition of festoon

festooned; festooning; festoons

transitive verb

1 : to hang or form festoons on

2 : to shape into festoons

3 : decorate, adorn; also : cover 4b

See festoon defined for English-language learners

Examples of festoon in a Sentence

We festooned the halls with leaves and white lights.
The balcony is festooned in ivy.
His office is festooned with newspaper clippings.

Recent Examples of festoon from the Web

In eastern Logar province, dozens of Taliban on motorcycles roared through the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam, some of the vehicles festooned with the Afghan flag.

— Washington Post, "Afghan bomber kills 21, mostly Taliban celebrating truce," 16 June 2018
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg A pedestrian walks down a street festooned with Brazilian flags ahead of the FIFA World Cup games in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 13.

— Bloomberg.com, "Bloomberg’s Week in Pictures," 14 June 2018
Also, a haunting — and nearly show-stealing — look consisted of a blue bodysuit festooned with a half-dozen doves frozen in mid-flight.

— adam tschorn, latimes.com, "It's haute harlequins and ringmaster chic at Moschino's circus-themed Burbank runway show," 13 June 2018
The fruit has a neon pink skin festooned with yellow tendrils that hide a stark white or magenta interior peppered with tiny, unobtrusive seeds.

— paul stephen, San Antonio Express-News, "Your guide to your store’s funky fruits: What’s good, how to eat them," 13 June 2018
While many of the gate buildings for the elevated subway lines saw the light of day, only two of his ornate pavilions for the underground lines—in white marble festooned with green iron and gold—at Karlsplatz were realized.

— a. j. goldmann, WSJ, "How Otto Wagner Made Vienna Modern," 12 June 2018
There are lids festooned with flint arrowheads, Civil War Minie balls, Amtrak train keys, Pez dispensers — even $1 million in shredded greenbacks from the Federal Reserve Bank in San Antonio.

— allen g. breed, BostonGlobe.com, "The ‘King of the Commode’ seeks an heir to his thrones," 22 May 2018
But simple rolling papers (75 cents each) are also plenty popular, thanks to the spacious front patio, a sturdy thing festooned with Christmas lights — and, on a warm Saturday evening, teeming with people.

— emma silvers, San Francisco Chronicle, "The story of the Albany pub where time stands still," 16 May 2018
The late-afternoon festival preceded a parade that got underway at dusk, with floats and marchers festooned with lights of all descriptions and vendors doing a brisk business in glow-sticks and other sparkly bling.

— janice steinhagen, Courant Community, "Jewett City's Main Street Lights Up The Night For Parade," 16 May 2018