carnival

Plural: carnivals

Noun

• A traveling amusement show with rides, games, and entertainment.
• a festival marked by merrymaking and processions
• a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment
  • "the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere"
• a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.
• Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.
• A festive occasion marked by parades and sometimes special foods and other entertainment.
• A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English.
• A context in which transgression or inversion of the social order is given temporary license. Derived from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin.
• A gaudily chaotic situation.

Verb

• To participate in a carnival.
• To move about playfully or wildly.

Examples

• a carnival of idiocy
• Carnival of Brazil
• The Scrabble board transformed into a CARNIVAL of words, each play a new attraction.
• Venice Carnival
• We all got to ride the merry-go-round when they brought their carnival to town.
• When the carnival came to town, every one wanted some cotton candy.

Synonyms

circus, fair, funfair