carnival

/ˈkɑrnəvəl/

/ˈkɑnɪvəl/

Other forms: carnivals

If you have an annual festival going on in your neighborhood that involves live music, street vendors, and games, you could call that a carnival.

The word carnival originally referred to a public festival involving general merriment and feasting, often taking place on the street and frequently associated with a religious holiday. Later the word’s meaning broadened to refer to a traveling show that offers similar activities, like a winter carnival or a fair. Nowadays the word carnival is also used figuratively to refer to something characterized by raucous disorder. If, for example, your coworkers ended up heckling your CEO at a company meeting, you could describe the scene as a carnival (although you would most likely NOT see any cotton candy in the board room).

Definitions of carnival

1. noun

   a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.
   synonyms: fair, funfair

   type of:

   show

   the act of publicly exhibiting or entertaining
2. noun

   a festival marked by merrymaking and processions
   types:

   Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras

   a carnival held in some countries on Shrove Tuesday (the last day before Lent) but especially in New Orleans

   type of:

   festival, fete

   an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place)
3. noun

   a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment
   “the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere”

   synonyms: circus

   type of:

   disturbance

   the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion