Santa Claus

noun

San·​ta Claus ˈsan-tə-ˌklȯz 

also ˈsan-tē-

variants or Santa

ˈsan-tə 

: a plump, white-bearded, red-suited, and jolly old man in modern folklore who delivers presents to children at Christmastime

There might be a few weeks left until Christmas, but Santa Claus and his merry elves landed early in Bakersfield because several boys and girls on the nice list caught their attention.

—Ema Sasic

… we had dashed downstairs to the living room to see what Santa had brought and piled up, in great mounds of splendidly wrapped packages, under the Christmas tree—whose angel's halo brushed the ceiling.

—Anthony Bailey

Examples of Santa Claus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

SantaCon is an event held annually in December in which thousands of attendees dress as Santa Claus and other holiday characters and travel to bars and restaurants throughout the day. —Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 15 Apr. 2026

The organizer of SantaCon, an annual bar crawl where attendees dress up as Santa Claus, was arrested and charged with stealing more than $1 million intended for charity. —Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026

The event finds more than 20,000 people participating in an annual bar crawl throughout the city while dressed in their best holiday attire, tackiest Santa Claus costumes, and ugliest Christmas swears. —Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2026

Thousands of revelers who dressed as Santa Claus and other famous characters, participate in the annual SantaCon pub crawl on Saturday, December 13, 2025, in New York City, United States. —Dan Mangan, CNBC, 15 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

modification of Dutch Sinterklaas, alteration of Sint Nikolaas Saint Nicholas

First Known Use

1773, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Santa Claus

• chickasaws
• chippewas
• diapause
• menelaus
• menopause
• tropopause
• ahs
• baas
• cause
• clause
• claws
• coz