carnival UK /ˈkɑːnɪvəl/US /ˈkɑɹnɪvəl/noun 5verb 2forms 6 noun5 •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. •(US) A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English.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. •(figurative) A gaudily chaotic situation. •A context in which transgression or inversion of the social order is given temporary license. Derived from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin.The social environment contains the ambiguous traces of carnival: it resists the ideology of capitalism and, at the same time, reproduces the capitalist social order. — 2010 verb2 •(literary) To move about playfully or wildly.A sudden bright white flash exploded before me. A kaleidoscope of silver lines drawn in rapid succession carnivalled in a blizzard of raging energy. — 2007 •(informal, rare) To participate in a carnival. formscarnivaled · carnivalled · carnivaling · carnivalling · carnivals · Carnivals
