Mardi Gras
Americannoun
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the day before Lent, celebrated in some cities, such as New Orleans and Paris, as a day of revelry and merrymaking.
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a pre-Lenten carnival period climaxing on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
noun
Usage
What is Mardi Gras? Mardi Gras is the last day before Lent—the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It is sometimes called Fat Tuesday, which is what its name means in French.The term Mardi Gras also refers to the festival that takes place on this day and in the days (or even weeks) leading up to it. This festival is especially associated with the U.S. city of New Orleans, where it is prominently celebrated. In other places, this festival is called Carnival.Lent is the season of fasting and penitence that precedes Easter in some branches of Christianity. Mardi Gras is part of a tradition of indulging before the Lenten fast, but it is not a Christian holiday.
Discover More
New Orleans, Louisiana, is famous for its Mardi Gras celebration, as is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Etymology
Origin of Mardi Gras
First recorded in 1690–1700; from French: literally, “fat Tuesday”; mardi “Tuesday,” Old French marsdi, from Latin diēs Mārtis, Mārtis diēs “day of Mars” ( dismal ( def. ), martial ( def. ) ); gras “fat,” from Latin grassus “fat, thick”
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How does mardi-gras compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mobile being the site of America’s first Mardi Gras celebration in 1703, a brass band led a second line march.
Amid Shia LaBeouf’s Mardi Gras brawl arrest in New Orleans, several outlets reported that he and wife Mia Goth had separated last year.
From Los Angeles Times
Ozzy Osbourne has been honoured at this year's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, with more than 200 people parading through the streets dressed as the Prince of Darkness.
From BBC
From her perch in New Orleans, she has also reported on natural disasters, the big business of Mardi Gras and her neighborhood peacock, Mr. P.
We were on Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service, which launched last August after the route, which heads east from New Orleans, was shut down more than 20 years ago due to damage sustained from Hurricane Katrina.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
