Holiday

/ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/ · noun

Meaning

A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed..

Definitions by Sense

1. A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.
2. A day declared free from work by the state or government.
3. (chiefly UK, Australia) A period of one or more days taken off work for leisure and often travel; often plural.
4. (chiefly UK, Australia) A period during which pupils do not attend their school; often plural; rarely used for students at university (usually: vacation).
5. (finance) A period during which, by agreement, the usual payments are not made.
6. A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.
7. (intransitive) To take a period of time away from work or study.
8. (British, intransitive) To spend a period of time in recreational travel.

Example Sentences

Near-synonyms: holy day, feast day, festival (feast day sense)

Today is a Wiccan holiday!

Monday, January 18, was the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In the morning I held a reception for the diplomatic representatives of other nations in the inner quadrangle at Georgetown, addressing them from the steps of Old North Building.

How much holiday are you allowed?

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or[…]. And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.

Climb aboard a butterfly and take off in the breeze. Let your worries flutter by and do the things you please. In the land where dollar bills are falling off the trees. On a dreamer’s holiday.[…]Make it a long vacation. Time, there is plenty of. You need no reservation. Just bring along the one you love.

I want to take a French course this summer holiday.

a mortgage payment holiday

Synonyms for holiday

Antonyms for holiday

Related Words

Word Forms

• holidays
• holyday
• holidaying
• holidayed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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