celebratecel‧e‧brate /ˈseləbreɪt/ ●●● W3 verb 
It’s Dad’s birthday and we’re going out for a meal to celebrate. My folks are celebrating their 50th anniversary. We hope to give fans something to celebrate this season.celebrate Christmas/Thanksgiving etc How do you usually celebrate New Year?2[transitive] formal to praise someone or something: poems that celebrate the joys of love3[transitive] to perform a religious ceremony, especially the Christian Mass
WORD ORIGINcelebrate
Origin:
1500-1600 Latin past participle of celebrare ‘to visit often, celebrate’, from celeber ‘often visited, famous’VERB TABLE
celebrate
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | celebrate |
| he, she, it | celebrates | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | celebrated |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have celebrated |
| he, she, it | has celebrated | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had celebrated |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will celebrate |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have celebrated |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am celebrating |
| he, she, it | is celebrating | |
| you, we, they | are celebrating | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was celebrating |
| you, we, they | were celebrating | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been celebrating |
| he, she, it | has been celebrating | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been celebrating |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be celebrating |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been celebrating |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Congratulations on your promotion - we must go out and celebrate!
- Harry celebrated his thirtieth birthday with a meal in a fancy restaurant.
- His poems celebrate the joys of love.
- The graduation ceremony allows students to celebrate their achievements with family and friends.
- We're celebrating Katie's birthday on Friday.
- What do you want to do to celebrate our anniversary this year?
- When Peggy turned 40, she invited 40 friends to help her celebrate.
- And then they celebrated, all as one.
- He crossed the road well ahead of the militiamen and rode into the encampment where the wedding was still being celebrated.
- He was to celebrate the inauguration in Florida speaking up for the black voters who feel disenfranchised.
- I was past putting the tent up, celebrating and wondering why my arms did not drop off.
- It is a day to celebrate the rich variety of people within our parish rather than create unnecessary divisions.
- This will be his first year celebrating Oktoberfest in the establishment he's owned for the last three years.
- We will be back next year to celebrate our fourth pilgrimage.
Longman Language Activatorto celebrate something
to do something , for example to have a party or special meal, because it is someone's birthday, wedding, or because of some other special event: · Congratulations on your promotion - we must go out and celebrate!· What do you want to do to celebrate our anniversary this year?celebrate something with something: · Harry celebrated his thirtieth birthday with a meal in a fancy restaurant.
to do something to show that you remember and respect an important event in the past or someone who did something important in the past, especially someone who is now dead: · The annual parade commemorates the soldiers who died in the two World Wars.· The book will be published in October to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Morris's death.
British /honor American to do something in order to show your respect for someone, for example because they have been very brave or have achieved something very special: · A parade was organised in honour of Madame Blier, who had risked her life to save the villagers from enemy soldiers.· When Mr Johns retired after 45 years' service, the company held a party in his honour.· The home stadium is named in Robinson's honor.
if you do something to mark a particular occasion, you do something special to show that it is important and should be remembered: · A firework display was organized to mark the Queen's birthday.· The celebration marked the 100th anniversary of the staging of the modern Olympic Games.
in order to celebrate an important event or achievement: · In celebration of the store's grand opening, we're offering free balloons for the kids.· A retrospective film festival is being planned in celebration of the actor's 86th birthday.
a special event at which you celebrate something an event such as a party or a special public occasion that is held because people want to celebrate something: · New Year celebrations in Scotland go on for three days.· There is a two-day citywide celebration each year at the end of June.celebration of: · The hospital is planning a huge celebration of its 50th anniversary.birthday/anniversary/New Year's etc celebration: · Janine had her birthday celebration a week early.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY How do you usually celebrate New Year?COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
How do you usually celebrate New Year?· He will celebrate his 90th birthday on 25th August.
· How does your family usually celebrate Christmas?
(=do something to show that you remember it)· Fans observed a minute’s silence to commemorate the tragic event.
· The festival is celebrated each July.
(=perform this ceremony as a priest)
· To celebrate the occasion, a small party was held at his home.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Margaret Whigham was the most celebrated deb of 1930.· I have a collection of glasses intended for the most celebrated of all drinks dating back to the 1930s.· She was back at Madame Tussaud's to see her own likeness unveiled in the world's most celebrated Hall of Fame.· His exploits on the Colorado River had made him a national hero, the most celebrated adventurer since Lewis and Clark.· Her day has been celebrated most reverently every year, and the day of her translation has been particularly blessed.· Daryl Johnston, the most celebrated blocking back on the planet, is serenaded with moose calls anytime he touches the football.· But his flashy lifestyle and taste for violence have made him the most feared -- and the most celebrated.
NOUN· Added to this were attractive displays of children's work, to celebrate their achievement.· How do you celebrate children's achievements in your school?· Read in studio Britain's top Olympic and paralympic athletes gathered today to celebrate the outstanding achievements in their sports.· But since the War exhibitions have been held at Brussels, Montreal and Osaka by wealthy nations, celebrating their achievements.
· And forces with an interest in subverting the sanity of this Dominion may be readying themselves to celebrate that anniversary.· Read in studio Welcome back: The charity Oxfam celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year.· This year, Artweek celebrates its tenth anniversary, and events have a distinctly cosmopolitan flavour.
· Here the bridge between us is the Society of St Peter Apostle, whose hundredth birthday we celebrate this year.· He was a man whose birthday was being celebrated by his wife, his daughter, and his best friend.· The following year, William's birthday was celebrated with great rejoicings throughout London and Westminster.· Which has always guaranteed Caleb a birthday the whole world celebrates.
· Lord's celebrated its centenary of Test cricket and produced a match worthy of the occasion.· Eros, by Sir Alfred Gilbert, was erected in 1893 and celebrates its centenary on June 29.· They were the first country to organise an international sevens tournament, which they did to celebrate their Centenary in 1973.· From Ottawa we spent a memorable day in Prescott where the club was celebrating its centenary.· It's not the way to celebrate your centenary, as manager Ally Robertson knows only too well.· Modern aversion is encapsulated by a notice about Heartlanders, a 1989 community play celebrating Birmingham's centenary as a city.
· Many of the injured were City office workers celebrating the Tories' election victory.· His colleagues broke open a champagne bottle inside the City Hall to celebrate.· Heseltine backs down on terror bomb cover Cathy Gunn CITY people will celebrate Christmas with lighter hearts.
· Now, with something concrete to show for the day, I celebrated by finally doing the dishes.· It was a day to celebrate.· McConkey had started the day celebrating his retirement as headmaster of Gransha Primary School.· And, as on this day, to celebrate the rites of passage that demarcate often difficult lives.· It is a day to celebrate the rich variety of people within our parish rather than create unnecessary divisions.· With time, he also staged an annual Team Day to celebrate and share the most innovative accomplishments.
· They all ate and drank, and celebrated the end of the sheep-shearing by singing their favourite songs.· A mere two minutes passed before Cooks was celebrating again in the end zone, this time after a 32-yard punt return.· There was, he said, a triumphalist literature which celebrated the end of the struggle as we had known it.· With Bushmills distillery just up the road, this is an apt place to celebrate the end of a great walk.
· They regularly lead Sunday services at the parish church and welcome the community into school to celebrate special events.· True or not, it was a widely, and enthusiastically, celebrated event in the town.· A short history of the Sunday School was written to celebrate the event.· When Peter was made curate in a northern suburb of Bristol, Anna celebrated the event by becoming pregnant.
· Two weeks ago my family celebrated the marriage of my daughter Anne, the Princess Royal.· The family will be celebrating again in June when one of his daughters gets married.· We are very pleased to have Gregory and Gillian and their family here to celebrate with us.· The first play they mounted was for Alan and his family - to celebrate the completion of the pageant.· Read in studio A family is celebrating more than five hundred years of work at a local docks.· Her birthday was on 21st December and he arranged a family dinner party to celebrate it.
· Hindus celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights.· A later recognition of the relic occurred on July 23, 1894, which was celebrated by many festivals.· Both celebrated a major birth festival on 25 December.
· Now the grandparents baby-sit frequently, celebrate holidays with their grandchildren, and attend all their rites of passage.· We may celebrate different holidays, we may pray to different gods, we may carry different bibles.
· In 1809 he celebrated his Jubilee, fifty years on the throne.· As Milton Keynes celebrates it's jubilee, the arguments will continue long into the next century.· To celebrate its jubilee, the club is holding a top quality weekend tournament at the Walsall Polytechnic Campus on April 18-20.· In 1953, the National Association celebrated its Jubilee and the District its fortieth anniversary.· Come along and celebrate our Silver Jubilee in 1992!
· Men aren't afraid to be soft, girly and foppish and celebrate the inner life.· We use the music to celebrate life.· There was more, though, to celebrate than a life of political service.· Chocolate turns this into a family tradition and a story celebrating life and family.· Join us in celebrating his life.· She celebrates the high life, he writes a column called Low Life.
· The friar was up just before dawn and celebrated his Mass, Bonaventure and Benedicta being his only congregation.· He had gone, as usual, to celebrate Sunday mass.· Thirteen churches in the Louth-South Armagh border zone have been asked not to celebrate Sunday mass.· Bernard also celebrated an anniversary Mass in his home church of St Bede's.· The question as to whether an unchaste priest might celebrate the mass became important.
· He celebrated the occasion, appropriately enough in Bristol, by helping to polish off Gloucestershire's first innings yesterday morning.· To celebrate the occasion, a small party was held at his home in Newmilns, given by his wife and family.
· Read in studio A court has heard how four men murdered the host at a party held to celebrate his own engagement.· But the reed-slayers declared victory Sunday with a tailgate party celebrating the removal of an estimated 165 tons of the plant.· The Conservative Party was celebrating the election of another administration.· He'd been stabbed in the neck during a party to celebrate his engagement.· Mathilde had planned a party for her, a party to celebrate her sixteenth birthday in a week's time.· I had a big party to celebrate.· The party was to celebrate the couple's engagement.· Coming-out parties celebrate more than debutantes.
· Defender, Andy Theodosiou celebrated his return to the team with a goal.· Did they love Gretzky enough to override their antipathy toward the Kings and celebrate his return?· Seventy people die on the spot, and the town, far from celebrating the ark's return, finds itself in mourning.· All the kingdom celebrated their return, and the sultan welcomed them with ten days of feasting.· Drinks were ordered and the crowd celebrated Modi's return.· Only impossibly high personal expectations kept Gea Johnson from celebrating her triumphant return to track.· They celebrate the return of their not-so-prodigal sons in some considerable style.
· How, then, do we now celebrate Provincial's success as the 1990s begin?· Read in studio Conservationists have been celebrating the success of a campaign to save a series of weirs on the River Avon.· It will celebrate the successes of science teaching in schools and colleges and will share the latest ideas.· Newsletters provide a tremendously powerful means of publicly celebrating the successes of children and the school.· We should always be looking for opportunities to celebrate success.· The opportunity to celebrate real success is often missed.· And the group have now celebrated their diploma success.· They will be open and honest, but will be caring and will recognise and celebrate success.
· Pindar celebrated that victory in his Ninth Pythian ode.· Nguyen Trai celebrated the victory with a poem of hope: Henceforth our country is safe.· Other poets celebrated the victories of the Seleucids and of the Attalids against the same barbarians.· His teammates were long gone, headed home to celebrate the biggest victory of their pro careers.· Hoarse from the final days of furious campaigning, Clinton celebrated his victory at a party with campaign staff on Thursday night.· Charleston celebrated the victory far into the night.· The Tories should celebrate their victory.· She celebrated his courtroom victories and consoled him when he lost.
· Top wedding: Two pensioners celebrate their wedding on Saturday at a top nightclub.· They were married at Chiseldon, Wiltshire, and recently celebrated their diamond wedding.· So they lived happily in his fortress for a month and a day, celebrating their wedding feast.· The pair, both 73, decided to quit on the same day they celebrated their golden wedding.· He leaves a wife, Kerry, with whom he would have celebrated his second wedding anniversary this month.
· In Profile is intended as a final presentation this year to celebrate 10 years of survival.· This will be his first year celebrating Oktoberfest in the establishment he's owned for the last three years.· Read in studio Welcome back: Next year the Gloucestershire Regiment celebrates its three hundredth birthday.· This year Colnaghi's also celebrates the tenth anniversary of the opening of its New York city gallery.· All around the globe at this time of year people celebrate the coming of new life into the world.· Last year the journal celebrated its tenth anniversary.
· In May, 1981, Eva celebrated thirty years as a Salvation Army officer.· It was the year in which we celebrated the first twenty-five years of a successful university.· That same year the Salvation Army was celebrating a hundred years of witness in Rhodesia.· To celebrate 70 years of their product, Carnation has produced a model replica of its original 1922 Morris Delivery Van.· To celebrate 70 years of its product, Carnation has produced a model replica of its original 1922 Morris Delivery Van.
WORD FAMILYnouncelebrationcelebrityadjectivecelebratedcelebratoryverbcelebrate
1[intransitive, transitive] to show that an event or occasion is important by doing something special or enjoyable: It’s Dad’s birthday and we’re going out for a meal to celebrate. My folks are celebrating their 50th anniversary. We hope to give fans something to celebrate this season.celebrate Christmas/Thanksgiving etc How do you usually celebrate New Year?2[transitive] formal to praise someone or something: poems that celebrate the joys of love3[transitive] to perform a religious ceremony, especially the Christian Mass