celebrate

present singular third person celebrates · participle present celebrating · participle past celebrated · past celebrated · first person past singular celebrated · archaic present second person singular celebratest · past second person singular celebrated · archaic past second person singular celebratedst · present singular third person celebrates · archaic present singular third person celebrateth · past singular third person celebrated · past plural celebrated · past subjunctive celebrated · participle present celebrating · participle past celebrated

1. transitiveTo extol or honour in a solemn manner.

   to celebrate the name of the Most High

   3 more examples

   To celebrate the centenary next month of the opening of the first section (Forest Gate to Tilbury) of the former London, Tilbury & Southend Railway, the Stephenson Locomotive Society is organising a special rail tour over that route and other lesser-known L.T.S.R. lines.

   1954 March, “Notes and News: S.L.S. Tour of Tilbury Lines”, in Railway Magazine, page 215

   Okay, that is simply not true. If that were the case, you wouldn’t need to have an Olympics. The whole reason we do this is to find out who is better than everyone else, so that we can make them stand higher than the other people who are not as good as them, because the point of the games is not to celebrate equality. It is to celebrate individuals’ excellence. So let us all settle in for two incredible weeks of celebrating the fittest, the bravest, the most beautiful and of course, the drunkest of us all. “Did somebody say ‘party’?”

   2016 August 7, “Journalism”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 20, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

   Instead, we retreat into our gender-segregated media spaces where the manosphere extols stoicism and the womanosphere celebrates emotional vulnerability.

   2024 April 17, David Sasaki, “The emotionally immature lives of men and women”, in The Time Capsule, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2024

   Synonyms: fete

2. transitiveTo honour by rites, by ceremonies of joy and respect, or by refraining from ordinary business; to observe duly.

   to celebrate a birthday

   1 more example

   Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   Synonyms: observe, keep

3. intransitivetransitiveTo engage in joyful activity in appreciation of an event.

   I was promoted today at work—let’s celebrate!

   1 more example

   As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.

   2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2022

4. transitiveTo perform or participate in, as a sacrament or solemn rite; to perform with appropriate rites.

   to celebrate a marriage

   Synonyms: solemnize