Definition

1. Noun:
   • A wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity: A period or occasion of unrestrained, often licentious, revelry and merrymaking.
   • An orgiastic festival in ancient Rome in honor of Saturn: The ancient Roman festival of Saturn, celebrated in December, characterized by a temporary suspension of social norms, feasting, and role reversals.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The office party descended into a complete saturnalia.
  • The historian described the Roman Saturnalia as a time when slaves were served by their masters.

Advanced Usage

• "a saturnalia of [something]": Used to describe a scene of wild, chaotic, and often destructive excess related to a specific thing.
  • The riot was a saturnalia of violence and looting.
  • The film depicts a saturnalia of greed in the financial world.

Variants and Related Words

• Saturnalian (adj): Of or relating to the Saturnalia; characterized by unrestrained revelry.
  • The party had a saturnalian atmosphere.

Synonyms

• Orgy: A wild party characterized by excessive drinking and promiscuous sexual activity.
• Bacchanalia: A drunken feast or orgy (named for Bacchus, the Roman god of wine).
• Revelry: Lively and noisy festivities, especially involving drinking.
• Debauch: An occasion of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A feast of fools": An event characterized by chaos and the overturning of normal order, similar in spirit to the Saturnalia.
• "Carnivalesque": Having the qualities of a carnival, especially the subversion of hierarchies and norms, a concept often linked to the spirit of Saturnalia.

Noun

1. a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
2. an orgiastic festival in ancient Rome in honor of Saturn