What's the difference between festivity and merriment?

Festivity


Definition:

  • (n.) The condition of being festive; social joy or exhilaration of spirits at an entertaintment; joyfulness; gayety.
  • (n.) A festival; a festive celebration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Much of the week's music isn't actually sanctioned by the festival, with evenings hosted by blogs, brands, magazines, labels and, for some reason, Cirque du Soleil .
  • (2) The dog was discovered in a tent during a clean-up after thousands of festival-goers left the site.
  • (3) Before you take out your bucket and spade, though, you might like to look at the sand sculpture festival (until 5 September; prices vary from day to day) for inspiration.
  • (4) • Gone Girl picked for opening slot at New York film festival • We predict how Venice, Toronto and Telluride will split the 2014 world premieres
  • (5) In 1972, he launched a more ambitious plan by buying Hintlesham Hall, a decrepit grade-11 listed building in Suffolk, converting it into a home and three restaurants and taking over the Hintlesham festival held there.
  • (6) But then came the Cannes film festival, and The Artist .
  • (7) Here's what you need to know Read more Speaking to Guardian Australia ahead of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, Krugman, a renowned columnist at the New York Times , predicted the slowing Chinese economy would hurt Australia, but said the country should not get “too hysterical” about it.
  • (8) It's the slogan of an old electronica & dance music festival in Berlin known as The Love Parade.
  • (9) From next year, this multi-layered service will cover the Winter Olympics, the World Cup, the FA Cup and Commonwealth Games, alongside major festivals like the Proms, the Edinburgh Festival and Glastonbury.
  • (10) Von Trier, who took a " vow of silence " after being banned from the Cannes film festival in 2011 after joking about Nazism during a press conference for Melancholia, arrived at Nymphomaniac's photocall wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase "Persona Non Grata"; true to his word, he failed to attend the subsequent press conference where his actors and producer talked about the film.
  • (11) Meanwhile he is preparing a new double piano concerto by Kevin Volans with the Labèque sisters for a concert at the Edinburgh festival next week, and he tells me with a glint in his eye about ideas for the next two seasons: concert performances of Don Giovanni this October, more Brahms symphonies, and more Berlioz – an ambitious plan to realise the gigantic drama of Roméo and Juliette on a chamber-orchestral scale, following up his rapturously received performances of L'Enfance du Christ in February.
  • (12) I remember putting on Gothic in 1986 as the finale of the London film festival.
  • (13) Speaking at a film festival in Dubai he said: "My compass has not stopped spinning," referring to the many policy switches made by the party he previously supported.
  • (14) Given the Panahi situation, it seems almost appropriate that this year's festival has been quite downbeat with films mining the darker seams of the human condition.
  • (15) 27 August, 8pm Will Self The nearest the book festival circuit has to a rock star has three slots.
  • (16) Then again, any show attracting reviews as bad as Celtic have had in the last week would be lucky to survive any longer at the Festival and this performance has left them on the fringes of European football.
  • (17) In 2014, they organised the city’s first literature festival , hosting 25 events over two days.
  • (18) At Montpellier, the director, Jean-Paul Montanari, said he expected the whole festival industry to collapse but blamed the centre-right government's lack of interest in culture.
  • (19) But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca film festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.
  • (20) Between festivals, Hardee played cameo roles in TV comedies such as Blackadder and The Comic Strip, and ran his own comedy club, the Tunnel, which he had opened at the southern end of the Blackwall Tunnel in 1984; it acquired a fearsome reputation as a graveyard for aspiring standups.

Merriment


Definition:

  • (n.) Gayety, with laughter; mirth; frolic.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) That merriment is not just tankards and quaintness and mimsy Morris dancing, but a witty, angry and tender fire at the centre of Englishness.
  • (2) Christmas is a time for joy, celebration and bringing together family and friends to share this merriment.
  • (3) They are the only couple from the state dinner to get their picture on the front page of the Washington Post, and they were the source of a mix of merriment at their daring and alarmist speculation on the morning television shows about what would have happened if they had been Islamist extremists.
  • (4) For a long time, for me, one of the best things about the new year and Christmas was that it was a time for socially acceptable drunkenness, an occasion when even falling-over-in-the-street-drunkenness would be tolerated in the name of festive merriment.
  • (5) Back in 1776, the sage of Kirkcaldy noted: "People of the same trade seldom meet together even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
  • (6) The central characters of the show entitled "Health and Merriment" were: the housewife Larimunda, the druggist Salim, and the clowns Banziero, Xulex, and Primentinha.
  • (7) If you are visiting Denmark around 23-24 June, you are likely to be invited to gather round a huge beach bonfire with much drinking, eating, singing and merriment.
  • (8) A young couple, screeching with merriment, went past on their way to a bar or nightclub.
  • (9) I have no idea what "real sex" is and even less after reading the Mumsnet thread of the bedside 'penis beaker' (a dunking cup for hygiene purposes that has caused much merriment online ).
  • (10) Not just to remember how to pronounce "caxirola", but for general merriment.
  • (11) Dennis was beloved by his friends for his originality as a poet, his acuity as a critic, his probity and courage and merriment as a man.
  • (12) The effect is of a party recently ended, of a room still ringing with merriment, laughter and dancing.
  • (13) This tour of royal duty presumably produced the desired effect – positive media reporting – no doubt resulting in much merriment among the corridors of the royal household.
  • (14) Along with the origins on the South Bank, the merriment at the fact that funds are so tight, Walker often has to take the bus … It all suggests difference of the wrong kind: that the life experiences of Mayer, Toksvig and Walker may be alienatingly divergent from the people they want to reach.
  • (15) In the end, our futile midwinter merriment comes from the heart.
  • (16) It took Bryan Cranston four nominations to finally nab best actor, drama, for his role as the teacher-turned-druglord Walter White; on collecting his award, Cranston drily suggested that the exposure would bring the show's "mirth and merriment" to the world.
  • (17) After 2000, they are almost always funny, extended merriment concerning trousers with elasticated waistbands and grumpiness about modern music.
  • (18) Even opposition MPs realised today that the launch of IDS's Cunning Plan was not a day for merriment.
  • (19) But it’s not only musical merriment that revs up the crowds at its flagship London night at Koko: Rowley swoops in on new cabaret talent, too.