jubilee

/dʒubɪˈli/

/dʒubɪˈli/

Other forms: jubilees

A jubilee is the celebration of the anniversary of a special event, or it’s the anniversary itself. Which basically means it’s a birthday party.

Here’s something you might not know: the word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word yobel, which means “ram’s horn trumpet.” If you’ve ever celebrated the Jewish New Year, it’s possible you've heard a ram’s horn trumpet played to mark the jubilee. In Judaism, the Jubilee Year is a year of freedom from enslavement which is celebrated every fifty years. But that horn gets played every year. What’s a jubilee without a ram’s horn trumpet?

Definitions of jubilee

1. noun

   a special anniversary (or the celebration of it)
   types:

   diamond jubilee

   an anniversary celebrating the passage of 60 years

   silver jubilee

   an anniversary celebrating the passage of 25 years

   type of:

   anniversary, day of remembrance

   the date on which an event occurred in some previous year (or the celebration of it)