Meaning & use
feast
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Meanings
nouncountable
A large, special meal, often with many dishes, usually for a celebration or holiday.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a feast, two feasts, or feasts.
Patterns
- a feast of something
- a feast for someone
- prepare a feast
- enjoy a feast
The family prepared a huge feast for Thanksgiving.
We had a feast of seafood at the beach restaurant.
They laid out a feast for the wedding guests.
nounsingularfigurative
A very enjoyable or satisfying experience that gives you a lot of something pleasant.
Grammar: Usually singular and followed by 'for' or 'of': a feast for the eyes, a feast of colors.
Patterns
- a feast for the eyes
- a feast of something
The autumn leaves were a feast for the eyes.
The concert was a feast of beautiful music.
verbintransitive
To eat a large amount of food with great enjoyment, especially at a special occasion.
Grammar: No object; often followed by 'on': They feasted on turkey.
Patterns
- feast on something
We feasted on roast chicken and pies.
The guests feasted until late in the evening.
Word forms
| plural | feasts |
|---|---|
| third person singular | feasts |
| past tense | feasted |
| past participle | feasted |
| -ing form | feasting |
Common combinations
- a feast for the eyes
- The fireworks were a feast for the eyes.
- a movable feast
- Easter is a movable feast, so its date changes each year.
- feast on something
- The birds feasted on berries in the garden.
- a wedding feast
- The wedding feast lasted for hours.
Synonyms and how they differ
- banquet
- A banquet is a formal, often official meal for many people, while a feast can be more informal and celebratory.
- dinner
- Dinner is the main meal of the day; a feast is a particularly large or special dinner.
Opposites
Word family
- feasting noun
- The activity of eating a large special meal.
Commonly confused: feast or fist? feast or feat?
feast vs fist
Fist is a closed hand; feast is a large meal. They sound similar but have different vowel sounds.
feast vs feat
A feat is an impressive achievement; a feast is a large meal.
Practice
Choose the correct word to complete the sentence: The children ______ on cake and ice cream at the party.
Choose one answer.
The past tense 'feasted' is needed because the party is in the past. 'Feast' is the base form, 'feasting' is the -ing form, and 'feasts' is present tense for he/she/it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “feast”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.