fete

1 of 2

noun

ˈfāt ˈfet

variants or fête

Synonyms of fete

: festival

Class Day, the great fete of the year—Catherine D. Bowen

: a lavish often outdoor entertainment

a fete in the park with music and performances

: a large elaborate party

a fete to celebrate the museum's centennial

fete

2 of 2

verb

variants or fête

feted or fêted; feting or fêting

transitive verb

: to honor or commemorate with a fete

: to pay high honor to

Did you know?

Fete is a word worth celebrating. It's been around since Middle English, when it was used in a manuscript to refer to "fetes, spectacles and other worldly vanytees." Since the 19th century, fete has been doing double duty, also serving as a verb meaning "to honor or commemorate with a fete." You can honor fete by remembering that it entered English from Middle French, and that it derives ultimately from the Old French feste, meaning "festival"—a root that, not surprisingly, also gave English the word feast. Because of its French ties, you will sometimes see fete spelled with a circumflex above the first e (fête), as that's how it appears in that language.

Examples of fete in a Sentence

Noun won a prize at the church fete the heiress wanted to do something with her life other than shuttle from fete to fete Verb They feted the winning team with banquets and parades. the returning servicemen and servicewomen were feted with a week's worth of celebrations

Recent Examples on the Web

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Noun

Part of the honor is attributable to the Academy’s recent willingness to fete independent filmmakers, who are more likely to wear many hats on a project; indeed, Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard was nominated four times this year too. —Steven Zeitchik, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Mar. 2025 Even The White Lotus producers shot a scene from the island's famous fete for an upcoming episode. —Lauren Mowery, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025

Verb

All would be feted for winning an important race in the 2026 cycle when Senate Republicans will be defending their 53-47 majority. —Joshua Spivak, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Mar. 2025 McAvoy was feted with the Cinema City Honorary Award at the Glasgow Film Festival and before receiving that award from festival director Allison Gardner, the actor-director made an impassioned comment on providing education in the arts sectors. —Diana Lodderhose, Deadline, 2 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fete