Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The Bacchanalia.
  • noun A participant in the Bacchanalia.
  • noun A drunken or riotous celebration.
  • noun A reveler.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or typical of the worship of Bacchus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Characterized by intemperate drinking; riotous; noisy: as, “bacchanal feasts,”
  • Relating to or resembling a bacchanal or the bacchanalia.
  • noun One who celebrated the bacchanalia; a votary of Bacchus.
  • noun One who indulges in drunken revels; one who is noisy and riotous; a drunkard: as, “each bold bacchanal,”
  • noun plural Same as bacchanalia.
  • noun Also bacchanalian.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Relating to Bacchus or his festival.
  • adjective Engaged in drunken revels; drunken and riotous or noisy.
  • noun A devotee of Bacchus; one who indulges in drunken revels; one who is noisy and riotous when intoxicated; a carouser.
  • noun The festival of Bacchus; the bacchanalia.
  • noun Drunken revelry; an orgy.
  • noun A song or a dance in honor of Bacchus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Relating to Bacchus or his festival.
  • adjective Engaged in drunken revels; drunken and riotous or noisy.
  • noun A devotee of Bacchus; one who indulges in drunken revels; one who is noisy and riotous when intoxicated; a carouser.
  • noun in the plural The festival of Bacchus; the bacchanalia.
  • noun Drunken revelry; an orgy.
  • noun A song or a dance in honor of Bacchus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who engages in drinking bouts
  • adjective used of riotously drunken merrymaking
  • noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
  • noun a drunken reveller; a devotee of Bacchus

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin Bacchānālia; see Bacchanalia.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin Bacchānālis ("of or pertaining to Bacchus"). See Bacchanalia.

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Examples

  • Lena was explaining the word bacchanal when Violet and Glo arrived at the back door.

    Three Stages of Amazement Carol Edgarian 2011

  • Lena was explaining the word bacchanal when Violet and Glo arrived at the back door.

    Three Stages of Amazement Carol Edgarian 2011

  • It's about a king who literally gets eaten alive by all the women in the play in a kind of orgy-it's related to the word 'bacchanal'-and I loved that idea of animalistic chaos and following our own desires. "

    Gayired.com - Gay OnLine Community for Entertainment and Daily News 2009

  • As African-descended (including Indo- and Euro-Caribbean) peoples bring their cultures to urban spaces which are heavily policed, bordered, and confined, some interesting frictions emerge when the people break down fences (which occurred at Caribana) to join floats and dance behind enormous trucks with their booming sound systems, insisting on the politics of "bacchanal" (anything goes) and "chaos theory" while resisting the orderly ways of the state.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Anxious Black Woman 2007

  • As African-descended (including Indo- and Euro-Caribbean) peoples bring their cultures to urban spaces which are heavily policed, bordered, and confined, some interesting frictions emerge when the people break down fences (which occurred at Caribana) to join floats and dance behind enormous trucks with their booming sound systems, insisting on the politics of "bacchanal" (anything goes) and "chaos theory" while resisting the orderly ways of the state.

    Jammin' North of the Border: Caribana 2007 Anxious Black Woman 2007

  • It's the orgy, the bacchanal, that is to still the lamentations of the poor! "

    An Eagle Flight A Filipino Novel Adapted from Noli Me Tangere Jos�� Rizal 1878

  • His quest for an unparalleled bacchanal takes him to Tokyo and then Berlin, where he helps organize a banquet giant panda paw and white tiger cub are on the menu in what was Hitler's underground bunker.

    Art's Power to Humiliate and to Heal Sam Sacks 2011

  • A Hangover-style bacchanal, complete with zoo animals?

    Una LaMarche: Project Runway Episode 12 Recap: Empire State of Meh Una LaMarche 2010

  • A Hangover-style bacchanal, complete with zoo animals?

    Una LaMarche: Project Runway Episode 12 Recap: Empire State of Meh Una LaMarche 2010

  • La Paulée had many satellite events, seminars, tastings and even an auction, but the big event was the Saturday night dinner, a bacchanal the likes of which my liver hopes not to experience again for at least another week or two.

    Burgundy: When It's Good, It's Very, Very Good... Jay McInerney 2011

Comments

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  • This is so descriptive, especially around the holidays. At least where I'm concerned!

    December 28, 2006

  • Citation on satyr.

    June 22, 2008