fete

1 of 2

noun

ˈfāt  ˈfet 

variants or fête

1

: festival

… Class Day, the great fete of the year …

—Catherine D. Bowen

2

a

: a lavish often outdoor entertainment

a fete in the park with music and performances

b

: a large elaborate party

a fete to celebrate the museum's centennial

fete

2 of 2

verb

variants or fête

feted or fêted; feting or fêting

transitive verb

1

: to honor or commemorate with a fete

2

: to pay high honor to

Did you know?

Fete is a word worth celebrating. It's been around since Middle English, when it was used in a manuscript to refer to "fetes, spectacles and other worldly vanytees." Since the 19th century, fete has been doing double duty, also serving as a verb meaning "to honor or commemorate with a fete." You can honor fete by remembering that it entered English from Middle French, and that it derives ultimately from the Old French feste, meaning "festival"—a root that, not surprisingly, also gave English the word feast. Because of its French ties, you will sometimes see fete spelled with a circumflex above the first e (fête), as that's how it appears in that language.

Synonyms of fete

Noun

• event
• party
• celebration
• bash
• reception
• shindig

Verb

• honor

Examples of fete in a Sentence

Noun

won a prize at the church fete

the heiress wanted to do something with her life other than shuttle from fete to fete

Verb

They feted the winning team with banquets and parades.

the returning servicemen and servicewomen were feted with a week's worth of celebrations

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Wild and kitschy shows followed with opening fetes dedicated to colorful subjects including Andy Warhol, circus clowns, and Canadian television creators and puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft. —Lina Lecaro, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2026

The three-day fete debuted at downtown’s Embarcadero Marina Park North in 2019, was dark in 2020, 2021 and 2023, then returned in 2024 and again — but with a decline in attendance — in 2025. —Holly Alvarado, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026

Verb

The 6-foot-1 center was feted alongside senior guard Nalia Clifford, senior guard Taylor Dobry, senior forward Alexis May and senior center Lorraine Wieshuber before the Wildcats played visiting Geneva on Tuesday. —Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026

Also, 10 additional songwriters were feted with emerging global songwriter awards, including Oliver Cronin, Carla Wehbe and Bri Clark. —Lars Brandle, Billboard, 21 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English fete, from Middle French, from Old French feste — more at feast

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1814, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for fete

• ate
• bait
• bate
• cate
• crate
• date
• eight
• fait
• fate
• frate
• freight
• gait

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Kids Definition

fete

1 of 2 noun

variants or fête

ˈfāt 

1

: festival sense 1

2

: a fancy entertainment or party

fete

2 of 2 verb

variants or fête

feted or fêted; feting or fêting

1

: to honor with a fete

2

: to pay high honor to