bacchanal

1 of 2

noun

bac·cha·nal ˈba-kə-nᵊl

ˈbä-;

ˌba-kə-ˈnal

ˌbä-kə-ˈnäl

: orgy sense 2

: orgy sense 3

: a devotee of Bacchus

especially : one who celebrates the Bacchanalia

: reveler

bacchanal

2 of 2

adjective

bac·cha·nal ˈba-kə-nᵊl

: of, relating to, or suggestive of the Bacchanalia : bacchanalian

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The wedding was a three-day bacchanal staged over Halloween weekend at Belvoir Castle, the 11th-century ancestral home of the Duke of Rutland, with a guestlist including Kate and Lila Moss, Adwoa Aboah, and Ivy Getty.

Kerry Mcdermott, Vogue, 11 Nov. 2022 With that, the men and women break into separate groups to gossip about their options and prepare for the night's bacchanal.

Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 28 Sep. 2022 Beyond the gear bacchanal, Outdoor Retailer was instrumental in growing the industry’s conscience.

Frederick Reimers, Outside Online, 27 Apr. 2022 The essence of Carnival, after all, is to turn logic on its head: the madness of bacchanal makes no sense whatsoever—and all the exuberant sense in the world.

Baz Dreisinger, Forbes, 15 July 2022 Metal is something that is genuinely celebrated in Indonesia, a social bacchanal for riffs and shredding.

Jason Pettigrew, SPIN, 30 June 2022 In both, Fire Island is depicted as a gay utopia, a carefree bacchanal soon to end with the appearance of a mysterious and deadly illness that seems to be targeting gay men.

Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 June 2022 Director Tom Gormican and his co-writer Kevin Etten have thrown a wild bacchanal to celebrate the career of perhaps the most versatile actor in American cinema history.

Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 22 Apr. 2022 New Orleans's French Quarter immediately conjures certain images for travelers: Beignets at Café du Monde, the bacchanal of Bourbon Street, bachelor and bachelorette parties roaming around in matching T-shirts.

Travel + Leisure, 12 Apr. 2022

Adjective

By the end of last week, the mood on the platform was half funeral, half bacchanal, as departing staff tweeted out farewells and others wondered gleefully whether the site would still be there by morning.

Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2022 This year’s bacchanal, hosted with Grindr and 818 Tequila, did not disappoint.

Ian Malone, Vogue, 27 June 2022 Hosting a free-for-all bacchanal like the unlimited beverage service at the freeloader area necessitates that kind of expenditure.

Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2021 Best New Chef winner, the presiding genie of a nightly bacchanal at the Beatrice Inn, the century-old former speakeasy in the West Village.

Jay Mcinerney, Town & Country, 27 Sep. 2021 The Spring Awakening electronic music bacchanal returns ... in October.

Christopher Borrelli, chicagotribune.com, 8 Sep. 2021 Despite the stately molding and marble stairs, though, the show was pure bacchanal from the moment Pollard, guitarists Doug Gillard and Bobby Bare Jr., drummer Kevin March, and bassist Mark Shue took the stage.

Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2021 The jet set and glitterati descend here year-round for the white-sand beaches, bass-forward nightlife, and five heady days of Carnival bacchanal celebrations in February or March.

Megan Wood, Travel + Leisure, 3 Aug. 2021 In retrospect, Levi sees Zola as a hyper-modernized take on timeless Greek fantasies, which often center on epic journeys marked by adventure, bacchanal, greed, romance, and betrayal.

Samantha Hissong, Rolling Stone, 7 July 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bacchanal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.