Meanings
plural Whitsuns
- Whitsunday.
1909, Sidney Heath, Romance of Symbolism: Fonts and the symbols of baptism - The times [for baptism] of which Whitsun Eve is one, are specified by ... the constitutions for Orthobon for England, Gerona, 517, c. iv.
- The holiday beginning on Whitsunday.
1 more example
1978, Peter Bailey, Leisure and class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for control, quoting "a British observation from early 20th century", read in Orvar Löfgren, On Holiday: A History of Vacationing (2002) - The excursion train used to vomit forth, at Easter and in Whitsun week, throngs of millhands of the period, cads and their flames, tawdry, blowsy, noisy, drunken.
Synonyms: Whitweek, Whitsuntide, Pentecost
- not comparableOf, or relating to Whitsunday or Whitsuntide
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe holiday beginning on Whitsunday.
More synonyms by meaning
nounChristian holiday; the week beginning on Whitsunday (especially the first 3 days)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Apocopic form of Whitsunday.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Whitsun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitsun
“Whitsun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitsun. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Whitsun,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitsun.
Source: Whitsun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.