From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcarnivalcar‧ni‧val /ˈkɑːnəvəl $ ˈkɑːr-/ ●●○ noun 1 [countable, uncountable]CELEBRATE a public event at which people play music, wear special clothes, and dance in the streets preparations for this year’s carnival when it’s Carnival in Rio a carnival atmosphere in the town2 [countable] American EnglishDL a noisy outdoor event at which you can ride on special machines and play games for prizes SYN funfair British English3 [countable] American EnglishSES a school event at which students play games for prizes4 → carnival of something
Examples from the Corpus
carnival• It was as wild as a carnival.• They dismiss synchro as carnival entertainment, what Esther Williams did after she was an athlete.• They carried with them galvanic batteries of a type generally used for feats of entertainment at carnivals.• Yes, there was only the sea and the sky light carnival.• Caroline who had moved to a new area was asked by a neighbour to join a committee planning the local summer carnival.• The sounds from the rides and the carnival continued, nothing seemed out of place.• These pictures show some of the things that happened when Fateha, Louise, Anthony and Marlon went to the carnival.• Night fell upon, and spread its funereal pall over, a field of blood where death held unrestrained carnival!carnival atmosphere• As the march swelled to 4,000, a carnival atmosphere swept through the crowd.• He hoped there would be a carnival atmosphere.• Much of the popular carnival atmosphere of traditional democratic politics was eliminated.Origin carnival (1500-1600) Italian carnevale, from carne “meat” ( → CARNATION) + levare “to remove”; because after Carnival people stopped eating meat for a period 