Definition

1. Noun:

   • A wild, drunken party or celebration: A bacchanal is a gathering characterized by excessive drinking, unrestrained merrymaking, and often promiscuous behavior.
   • A drunken reveler; a devotee of Bacchus: A bacchanal is a person who participates in such riotous festivities, named after Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and ecstasy.

2. Adjective:

   • Characterized by or involving drunken revelry: Describes an event, atmosphere, or behavior that is riotously and drunkenly merry.

Usage Examples

• Noun (as a party):

  • The festival descended into a wild bacchanal that lasted until dawn.
  • Reports described the event as an unrestrained bacchanal of music and drink.

• Noun (as a person):

  • He was known in his youth as a true bacchanal, always at the center of the party.
  • The painting depicted a group of bacchanals celebrating the harvest.

• Adjective:

  • The party had a bacchanal atmosphere, with wine flowing freely and guests dancing on tables.
  • They engaged in a night of bacchanal revelry.

Advanced Usage

• "Bacchanalian" (Adjective): A more common adjectival form, meaning of or like a bacchanal; riotously drunken. This is often used interchangeably with the adjective "bacchanal."
  • The banquet turned into a bacchanalian feast.
  • He wrote about the bacchanalian excesses of the era.

Variants and Related Words

• Bacchanalia (n, plural): The ancient Roman festivals in honor of Bacchus, which were notorious for their licentiousness. Now used to refer to any similar wild celebration.
  • The modern street festival was a chaotic echo of the ancient Bacchanalia.
• Bacchic (adj): Another adjective meaning of, relating to, or typical of Bacchus or a bacchanal.
  • The play featured Bacchic rites and ecstatic dances.

Synonyms

• Noun (for a party): orgy, revel, debauch, carousal, spree.
• Noun (for a person): reveler, carouser, drunkard, tippler.
• Adjective: orgiastic, riotous, drunken, carousing, debauched.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "To become a bacchanal": To turn into a wild, drunken party.
  • What started as a quiet dinner soon became a bacchanal.
• "A scene of bacchanal excess": A description of a situation marked by extreme and unrestrained indulgence, especially in drinking and pleasure.
  • The aftermath of the victory parade was a scene of bacchanal excess.

Adjective

1. used of riotously drunken merrymaking
   • a night of bacchanalian revelry
   • carousing bands of drunken soldiers
   • orgiastic festivity

Noun

1. a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
2. a drunken reveller; a devotee of Bacchus
3. someone who engages in drinking bouts