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

Noun

• reception
• event
• party
• celebration
• affair
• dance
• do
• 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

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons Dunst and her husband Jesse Plemons attended Sunday’s fete, with Dunst styling a look from Chanel’s spring 2025 couture collection. —Julia Teti, Footwear News, 7 July 2025

Mason used fashion to sum up the strange feeling surrounding the black-tie fete. —Judy Kurtz, The Hill, 25 Apr. 2025

Verb

The honorees will be profiled in the Oct. 15 issue of Variety and feted at a special brunch during the festival. —Variety Staff, Variety, 12 Aug. 2025

Lovell, on the other hand, knew a thing or two about being celebrated, being feted, being recognized in restaurants and sought out for interviews. —Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 9 Aug. 2025

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

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

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