party like it's 1999

verb

To party intensely, particularly when reckless or pessimistic.

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Meanings

verbparty like it's 1999 (third-person singular simple present parties like it's 1999, present participle partying like it's 1999, simple past and past participle partied like it was 1999 or partied like it's 1999)

present singular third person parties like it's 1999 · participle present partying like it's 1999 · participle past partied like it was 1999 · past partied like it was 1999 · participle past partied like it's 1999 · past partied like it's 1999

  1. idiomaticsimileTo party intensely, particularly when reckless or pessimistic.

    Party Like It's 19.99 (episode title)

    2011, Splatalot!, season 1, episode 13
    3 more examples

    This past year the girls in Laughlin worked hard at protesting Chatham's prohibition and at getting a reputation for the best parties in town. They succeeded at living up to their theme — Party Like it's 1999!

    1983, “Laughlin Hall”, in Amita Chaudhary, editor, Cornerstone, Chatham College, page 117

    The European Union is not an organisation to do things by halves, particularly when it comes to a celebration. This time Europe will party like it's 1999. Or more precisely 1 May, 2004.

    2004 April 18, Kamal Ahmed, “EU approves €6m welcome party for new members”, in The Guardian

    […] I was deep in the streets with ole friends and new ones, drinking (as usual), spot hopping and partying like it was 1999.

    2014, Ms. Betty [pseudonym], Ain't that bout' a b*tch, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 92

Origin

From the Prince song called 1999 and released in 1982. The song uses the phrase in reference to a nuclear apocalypse predicted to occur in the year 2000, but it was later reinterpreted as meaning that the turn of the millennium calls for a particularly large celebration.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

party like it's 1999. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/party%20like%20it's%201999

MLA

“party like it's 1999.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/party%20like%20it's%201999. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “party like it's 1999,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/party%20like%20it's%201999.

Source: party like it's 1999 on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.