shindig
noun
Did you know?
At a glance, shindig appears to combine shin and dig, and thus might seem to suggest a painful kick to the leg—especially when you know that one of the first senses of shindig in English refers to a gathering at which people dance. It is more likely, however, that shindig is an alteration of shindy, which is itself the alteration of another word, shinny, used of a variation of hockey that is played with a curved stick and a ball or block of wood. It's not entirely clear how the game of shinny gave shindy its first meaning (the "social gathering with dancing" meaning that is also the original meaning of shindig) but shinny remains the most likely origin.
Examples of shindig in a Sentence
Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2025
The impetus for the après-sporting-event shindigs was his team spotting a big daypart gap: an opportunity to keep the excitement of major athletic spectacles going into the evening.
—Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 10 Apr. 2025
Just before midnight, two of the Oscars’ biggest winners, Mikey Madison and Adrien Brody, descended on the Vanity Fair party, one of the starriest shindigs of Hollywood’s longest — and biggest — day of the year at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 3 Mar. 2025
This vividly hued Los Angeles residence has hosted its fair share of fancy shindigs overflowing with celebrity guests, all courtesy of longtime owners Brian Loucks and Cedering Fox‘s popular music and literary salons.
—Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shindig
Cite this Entry
“Shindig.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shindig. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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shindig
noun
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