Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Celebrate |
CelebrateVerb1. Celebrate, as of holidays or rites; "Keep the commandments"; "celebrate Christmas"; "Observe Yom Kippur". 2. Have a celebration; "They were feting the patriarch of the family"; "After the exam, the students were celebrating". 3. Assign great social importance to; "The film director was celebrated all over Hollywood"; "The tenor was lionized in Vienna". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "celebrate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Note: Celebrate \Cel"e*brate\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Celebrated; present participle verb or noun Celebrating.]. (references) |
Synonyms: CelebrateSynonyms: fete (v), keep (v), lionize (v), observe (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Celebration | Verb: celebrate keep, signalize, do honor to, commemorate, solemnize, hallow, mark with a red letter. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Celebrate |
| English words defined with "celebrate": Celebrating, Concelebrate ♦ Depreicate ♦ Easter egg ♦ Feast of Weeks, First of May ♦ housewarming ♦ keep ♦ lap of honour ♦ make happy, make merry, make whoopie, March 2, May 1, May Day, minstrel, missal ♦ observe ♦ party, Patriot's Day, Pentecost ♦ racket, Recelebrate, Rejoicing in the Law, Rejoicing of the Law, Rejoicing over the Law, revel ♦ Shabuoth, Shavous, Shavuot, Shavuoth, Shimchath Torah, Simchas Torah, Simchat Torah, Simhat Torah, Simhath Torah ♦ Texas Independence Day, The Fourth, To ring in, troll ♦ victory lap ♦ wassail, whoop it up. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "celebrate": Actian Years, ahhhkill! ♦ Bertramo ♦ Dances, Disobey ♦ rumor ♦ Whip-dog Day. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "celebrate": Celebrant. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The Jews don't celebrate Christmas, Tom. (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; writing credit: Guy Ritchie) Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms (The American President; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin) If you have any problems, come and see me. If you don't have any problems, come and see me anyway and we'll celebrate your lack of problems (Hooves of Fire; writing credit: Andy Riley; Kevin Cecil) Let us celebrate our agreement with the adding of chocolate to milk (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) We celebrate everything (Filthy Rich; writing credit: Barry E. Blitzer; Linda Bloodworth-Thomason) | |
Lyrics | I gotta celebrate (THE MAIN EVENT/FIGHT; performing artist: Barbra Streisand) We celebrate a brand new life (This Very Moment; performing artist: K-Ci & JoJo) Celebrate good times, come on ("Celebration"; performing artist: Kool & The Gang) To celebrate (I Just Called to Say I Love You; performing artist: Stevie Wonder) I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age (My Next Thirty Years; performing artist: Tim McGraw) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Let's Sing and Dance to Celebrate a Peaceful Year (1969) The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson (1990) Something to Celebrate (1983) | |
Song Titles | Tonight, I Celebrate My Love (performing artist: Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack) I Just Want To Celebrate (performing artist: Rare Earth) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Miss Pearl Oyster dressed up for Anthony's Oyster Olympics. The Oyster Olympics helps celebrate clean Pacific waters. Credit: Fisheries. | ![]() | An ornate oyster-shell vest modeled at Anthony's Oyster Olympics. The Oyster Olympics helps celebrate clean Pacific waters. Credit: Fisheries. |
ROAR on Saturday tour, kicked off the Multi-Cultural Tourism Program to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and National Indian Recognition Week. Program leaders of the Rediscover Our American Roots discuss the summit activities at the Bumble Bee Ranch. Credit: Unknown. | ![]() | STOP Baby Bottle Tooth Decay : Celebrate your grandchild's first birthday... Trade a bottle for a cup. Credit: National Library of Medicine. | |
![]() | Building Blocks To a Better Life : Celebrate National Rehabilitation Week. Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ![]() | Patrons and staff at the Naval Air Station, Beaufort, South Carolina, Officers' Club celebrate news of Japan's surrender, 14 August 1945. Note bottle of "Ballantine's Beer" raised by officer in left center background. Credit: NAVY. |
![]() | Crew members on USS Wileman (DE-22) celebrate upon hearing of Japan's acceptance of surrender terms, circa 15 August 1945. Photographer was from Naval Air Station, Ebeye Island, Kwajalein. Credit: NAVY. | ![]() | The lambs celebrate Thanksgiving. Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | The day we do not celebrate. Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | Just when he was going to celebrate. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| ""Blue Christmas"" by Tina Lorien Commentary: "After all we do celebrate the birth of Jesus!!! ;-)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Walt Whitman | I celebrate myself, and sing myself. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Indonesia | Confucianists are permitted to celebrate publicly the Chinese New Year. (references) |
Turkey | Security forces in Diyarbakir prevented demonstrators from holding rallies to celebrate the May 1 holiday. (references) | |
Vietnam | Up to 300,000 persons traveled there in July to celebrate another traditional anniversary that the Government does recognize. (references) | |
Economic History | Venezuela | In October of 2001 the Venezuelan telecommunications sector will celebrate its first decade of privatization. (references) |
Germany | On October 7, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Berlin to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the GDR and urged the East German leadership to pursue reform. (references) | |
Kiribati | Attractions include World War II battle sites, game fishing, ecotourism, and the Millennium Islands, situated just inside the International Date Line and the first place on earth to celebrate every New Year. (references) | |
Human Rights | Guatemala | The prisoners appeared to be taking advantage of the chaos of the activities planned to celebrate Prisoner's Day to make an escape. (references) |
Sri Lanka | In May 2000, 23 persons were killed and dozens were injured when a bomb exploded at a Buddhist temple in Batticaloa in the east, where crowds had gathered to celebrate the Buddhist festival of Vesak. (references) | |
Seychelles | In May on the island of Praslin, several plainclothes police officers used tear gas to disperse forcibly a group of soccer players and their fans that had gathered on the field to celebrate their victory. (references) | |
Minorities | Czech Republic | Approximately 45 skinheads had gathered earlier in the day in a nearby town to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday, and upon arriving at a restaurant in Novy Bor, began taunting Roma who were there. (references) |
Ukraine | In 1999 in Crimea, Bishop Lazarus of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, announced an initiative to place 1,000 crosses around Crimea to celebrate the second millennium of the birth of Jesus and a millennium of the Christianization of Kievan Rus. (references) | |
Political Economy | Sudan | In April Christian church authorities invited a German evangelist to address a rally in central Khartoum to celebrate Easter Mass and secured appropriate permits for the rally. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | DISOBEY, v.t. To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command. His right to govern me is clear as day, My duty manifest to disobey; And if that fit observance e'er I shut May I and duty be alike undone. Israfel Brown |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Bill Maher | If you celebrate Christmas religiously, folks, you pray to a young man from the Middle East who today probably would get stopped at the airport. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Richard Nixon | 1969-1974 | In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free. |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | We are organizing activities to celebrate and promote this important commemorative year within the government as well as in cooperation with private sector efforts in this country and around the world. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | This year we celebrate the second century of our Constitution. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Celebrate" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 84.23% of the time. "Celebrate" is used about 1,350 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 84.23% | 1,137 | 6,732 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 13.25% | 179 | 23,133 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 2.07% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.37% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.07% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,350 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "celebrate": celebrate an anniversary ♦ celebrate keep ♦ celebrate mass ♦ celebrate pessach. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "celebrate"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | festoj (commemorate, triumph). (various references) | |
Arabic | مجد (adoration, assiduous, canonize, celebrity, diligent, enthrone, eulogize, exalt, extol, fame, glorify, glory, industrious, kudos, laborious, laud, laurels, luster, lustre, magnify, popularity, praise highly), إمتنع عن العمل في عيد, إحتفل (feast one's eyes, fete, high time to, lionize, party, push out, rave, solemnize), أقام قداسا, أعلن (advertise, advertize, announce, avow, bill, blare, count, declare, denote, enunciate, gazette, portend, predicate, proclaim, profess, promulgate, pronounce, protest, publicize, publish, put out, report, represent, rule, show, sound, state, usher, vote), أذاع (bandy, blazon, break, broadcast, circulate, cry, proclaim, promulgate, propagate, publish, radio, transmit, vend), رأس قداسا, شارك في إاحتفال صاحب. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | служа (minister, serve, urge), възхвалявам (belaud, eulogize, exalt, extol, glorify, magnify, panegyrize, praise, vaunt), отпразнувам (memorialize, signalize), ознаменувам (commemorate, memorialize), жълтурче, празнувам (keep, memorialize, observe), поливам нещо (drink on smth.). (various references) | |
Chinese | 庆祝 (Celebrated, Celebrating, Celebration, jubilation), 慶祝 , 慶 . (various references) | |
Czech | celebrovat, velebit (acclaim, bless, eulogize, exalt, extol, glorify, Laud, praise), sloužit (serve, take), slavit (commemorate, keep, observe, solemnize), oslavovat (emblazon, exalt, rejoice). (various references) | |
Danish | fejre. (various references) | |
Dutch | vieren (release), opdragen (dedicate, devote, entrust, tell), celebreren. (various references) | |
Esperanto | celebri, soleni, festi. (various references) | |
Faeroese | halda hátíðarligan, halda (account, accredit, believe, deem, guess, hang onto, have a subscription, hold, presume, retain, suppose, surmise, take in), hátíðarhalda. (various references) | |
Farsi | تقدیس کردن (Bless, Consecrate, Edify, Enshrine, Hallow, Sacrament, Sancify), تجلیل کردن (Ennoble, Exalt, Glorify), عیدگرفتن , جشن گرفتن (Commemorate). (various references) | |
Finnish | juhlia (be celebrating, go out). (various references) | |
French | fêter, célébrer. (various references) | |
Frisian | feestje. (various references) | |
German | feiern (commemorate, feast, fete, hold, junket, lionize, merry making, observe, party, revel, revels, solemnize, stay off work, to celebrate, to feast, to solemnize), zelebrieren (to celebrate). (various references) | |
Greek | εορτάζω (feast, memorialize). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | festoj. (various references) | |
Hebrew | לחגוג (be giddy, feast, solemnize), חגג. (various references) | |
Hungarian | celebrál, misét mond (to say mass), dicsõít (belaud, extol, extoll, glamorise, glamorize, glamourize, glorify, panegyrize), ünnepel (commemorate, fete, rejoice, resound, to celebrate, to hold high festival, to resound). (various references) | |
Icelandic | skemmta sér. (various references) | |
Indonesian | merayakan (commemorate). (various references) | |
Irish | ceiliúir (sing; celebrate). (various references) | |
Italian | celebrare (observe, perform, solemnise, solemnize, vaunt), festeggiare (ceremonies, feast, fete, give a hearty welcome to, see in). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 祝う (to celebrate, to congratulate). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | せきどうさい (ceremony to celebrate crossing the equator), いわう (to celebrate, to congratulate). (various references) | |
Korean | 경축하십시요. (various references) | |
Manx | jannoo ardeailley, cummal (abode, arrest, celebration, contain, containment, contents, dwelling place, grip, hold, inhabit, keep, live, residence, retain). (various references) | |
Norwegian | feste (fasten, fix). (various references) | |
Papago | wuwjasith (to celebrate). (various references) | |
Papiamen | selebrá, fiesta (celebration, festival, party). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | elebratecay.(various references) | |
Polish | obchodzić, świętować. (various references) | |
Portuguese | festejar (carousal, carouse, commemorate, entertain, feast, fete, racket, solemnize, treat), comemorar (commemorate, monumentalize, solemnize), celebrar (commemorate, hold, inaugurate, observe, resound, solemnize). (various references) | |
Romanian | celebra (commemorate, solemnize), aniversa. (various references) | |
Russian | праздновать (hold a jubilee, solemnize). (various references) | |
Scottish | cum (contain, hang onto, hold, keep, retain). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | veličati (exalt, extol, glorify, magnify, praise, set forth), svetkovati (solemnize), slaviti (eulogize, glorify, laud, praise), proslaviti (observe). (various references) | |
Spanish | celebrar (eulogize, hold, keep, observe, perform, praise, see in, talk up), celebrar una fiesta. (various references) | |
Swedish | fira (absent oneself, celibrate, ease, fete, honor, honour, keep, lionize, observe, slack). (various references) | |
Tagalog | magdíwang. (various references) | |
Thai | เฉลิมฉลอง, สรรเสริญ (laud), ประกาศ (give out). (various references) | |
Turkish | kutlamak (commemorate, congratulate, emblazon, felicitate, greet, keep, observe), anmak (cite, commemorate, embalm, make mention of, memorialize, mention, recall, recollect, remember, reminisce, think). (various references) | |
Turkmen | dabaralanmak (observe a ceremony). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | урочисто відзначати, святкувати (commemorate, fete, observe, rejoice, solemnize), оспівувати (chant), звеличувати (aggrandize, apotheosize, emblazon, eulogize, exalt, extol, extoll, glorify, glory), прославляти (apotheosize, emblazon, glorify, praise), правити церковну службу. (various references) | |
Welsh | dathlu. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | can, canam, canamus, cane, canebant, canendum, canens, canentem, canentes, canentium, canere, canerentque, caneret, canes, canet, canetis, cani, canis, canite, canitis, canitur, cano, canti, cantorum, cantu, cantum, cecinerunt, cecineruntque, cecinimus, cecinit, celebrare, concino, frequenta, frequentate, frequenter, frequentes. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Isaiah Chapter 38, Verse 18 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Ou gar oi en adou ainesousin se oude oi apoqanonteV euloghsousin se oude elpiousin oi en adou thn elehmosunhn sou |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quia non infernus confitebitur tibi neque mors laudabit te non expectabunt qui descendunt in lacum veritatem tuam |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | For helle shal not knouleche to thee, nor deth shal preise thee; and thei shul not abyden thi treuthe, that gon doun in to the lake. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | For the underworld is not able to give you praise, death gives you no honour: for those who go down into the underworld there is no hope in your mercy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Isaiah Chapter 38, Verse 18 |
| Cebuano | Kay ang Sheol dili makadayeg kanimo, ang kamatayon dili makag-pasidungog kanimo: Sila nga manaug sa gahong dili makalaum sa imong kamatuoran. |
| Chinese | 原 來 陰 間 不 能 稱 謝 你 、 死 亡 不 能 頌 揚 你 、 下 坑 的 人 不 能 盼 望 你 的 誠 實 . |
| Croatian | Jer Podzemlje ne slavi te, ne hvali te Smrt; oni koji padnu u rupu u tvoju se vjernost više ne uzdaju. |
| Danish | Thi Dødsriget takker dig ikke, dig lover ej Døden, på din Miskundbed håber ej de, der synker i Graven. |
| Dutch | Want het graf zal U niet loven, de dood zal U niet prijzen; die in den kuil nederdalen, zullen op Uw waarheid niet hopen. |
| Finnish | Sillä ei tuonela sinua kiitä, ei kuolema sinua ylistä; eivät hautaan vaipuneet pane sinun totuuteesi toivoansa. |
| French | Ce n`est pas le séjour des morts qui te loue, Ce n`est pas la mort qui te célèbre; Ceux qui sont descendus dans la fosse n`espèrent plus en ta fidélité. |
| German | Denn die Hölle lobt dich nicht; so rühmt dich der Tod nicht, und die in die Grube fahren, warten nicht auf deine Wahrheit; |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Di alam maut tak ada yang memuji Engkau, orang mati tak dapat mengharapkan kesetiaan-Mu. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Karena liang lahad tiada akan memuji-muji Engkau dan mautpun tiada akan mempermuliakan Dikau; barangsiapa sudah turun ke dalam kubur, ia itu tiada harap lagi pada kebenaran-Mu. |
| Italian | Poiché non gli inferi ti lodano, né la morte ti canta inni; quanti scendono nella fossa non sperano nella tua fedeltà. |
| Korean | 음 부 가 주 께 사 례 하 지 못 하 며 사 망 이 주 를 찬 양 하 지 못 하 며 구 덩 이 에 들 어 간 자 가 주 의 신 실 을 바 라 지 못 하 되 |
| Maori | E kore hoki e taea e te reinga te whakawhetai ki a koe, e kore te mate e ahei te whakamoemiti ki a koe; ko te hunga e heke ana ki te rua kahore o ratou tumanako ki tou pono. |
| Norwegian | For ikke priser dødsriket dig, ikke lover døden dig; ikke venter de som farer ned i graven, på din trofasthet. |
| Portuguese | Pois não pode louvar-te o Seol, nem a morte cantar-te os louvores; os que descem para a cova não podem esperar na tua verdade. |
| Rumanian | Cqci nu locuinya moryilor Te laudq, nu moartea Te mqrewte, wi cei ce s`au pogorkt kn groapq nu mai nqdqjduiesc kn credinciowia Ta. |
| Spanish | Porque el Seol no te agradecerá, ni la muerte te alabará. Tampoco los que descienden a la fosa esperarán en tu fidelidad. |
| Swedish | Ty dödsriket tackar dig icke, döden prisar dig icke, och de som hava farit ned i graven hoppas ej mer på din trofasthet. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "celebrate": celebrated, celebratedness, celebratednesses, celebrates. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "celebrate": concelebrate. (additional references) | |
Words containing "celebrate": concelebrated, concelebrates, uncelebrated. (additional references) | |
| |
"Celebrate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Calbraith, celebate, celeberate, celebrare, celebrat, celebratie, celebraty, celerate, celerbrate, celibrate, cellibrate, cillebrate, Culebra, selebrate. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "celebrate" (pronounced se"lubrā't) |
| 6 | -l u b r ā' t | calibrate. |
| 5 | -u b r ā' t | vertebrate. |
| 3 | -r ā' t | airfreight, arbitrate, administrate, aspirate, birthrate, carbohydrate, castrate, concentrate, consecrate, illustrate, immigrate, demonstrate, denigrate, disintegrate, emigrate, frustrate, gyrate, hydrate, infiltrate, integrate, magistrate, migrate, narrate, nitrate, orchestrate, penetrate, perpetrate, reintegrate, serrate, substrate. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: erectable. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-c-e-e-e-l-r-t" | |
-1 letter: bracelet. | |
-2 letters: beetler, bleater, reelect, retable, treacle. | |
-3 letters: beater, beetle, belter, berate, cablet, cartel, cerate, cereal, claret, create, ecarte, elater, labret, rebate, rectal, relace, relate, tercel, treble. | |
-4 letters: abele, abler, acerb, alert, alter, arete, artel, baler, beret, betel, blare, blate, blear, bleat, brace, bract, caber, cable, caret, carle, carte, cater, celeb, clear, cleat, crate. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-c-e-e-e-l-r-t" | |
+1 letter: celebrated, celebrates, resectable. | |
+2 letters: bleacherite, respectable. | |
+3 letters: bachelorette, bleacherites, concelebrate, respectables, uncelebrated. | |
+4 letters: bachelorettes, concelebrated, concelebrates, unrespectable. | |
+5 letters: celebratedness, creditableness, disrespectable, hyperexcitable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Bible Trace 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.