Make Your Point: FETE

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FETE

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce FETE:

FATE

connect this word to others:

The word fete, which is closely related to feast and festival, most often means "to celebrate." Feted people and feted accomplishments are being celebrated, as if we're throwing parties in their honor.

Fete is a synonym of l__nize, meaning "to treat people like adored celebrities." Can you recall that one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Centuries ago, we borrowed the French fête, meaning "a feast, or a festival," into English.

And in English, "fête" can still mean "a feast, a festival, or a celebration."

But most often, we drop the circumflex from above the first "e," and we use "fete" as a verb meaning "to celebrate, usually with an elaborate party or other event, but sometimes with lots of praise and attention."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Most often a verb, the transitive kind: "The town feted him;" "He was feted by the entire town."

Also a noun, often with the circumflex over the first E: "They're preparing for the fête;" "Photographers captured everyone at the fête."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "feted" and "feting."

And the plural noun is "fêtes."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, semi-common verb "fete" when you want to strike an enthusiastic tone.

Talk about people and places that fete certain heroes and deeds, artists and works of art, musicians and music, athletes and teams, writers and books, directors and films, etc.

Often we turn the verb "fete" into an adjective, "feted," and talk about feted people, places, and things.

examples:

"Clifford the Big Red Dog feted on 50th birthday"
— Leanne Italie, Associated Press, 24 September 2012

"Thirty thousand local residents turned out on a blustery day in mid-March to fete the men they had adopted as hometown heroes."
— Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures, 2016

has this page helped you understand "fete"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "fete" without saying "celebrate" or "throw a big party for."

try it out:

According to the Associated Press, in Indonesia, a new industrial park was feted as "green:" celebrated for being committed to decarbonization, with plans to "eventually run on hydro and solar power."

But a headline read:

"New Indonesian industrial park on Borneo, feted as ‘green,’ will be powered by coal, report says."

Oh, snap! Talk about what that means: why would people fete the industrial park as green? Why won't people be feting the park anymore?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is Botched Songs!

Check out the botched lyrics to a holiday song, and see if you can give me the botched title. It'll include a form of a word we've studied before.

For example, if the real song is "Jingle Bell Rock," then the botched one might be "Jingle Quell Rock." Or if the real song is "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas," then the botched one might be "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like a Chrysalis."

If you need some clues, highlight them to reveal them. And to see the answer, scroll all the way down. Your answer might be different than mine but just as good. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

O come, all ye _____,
Bitter and repugnant,
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem.
O come and behold Him,
Keep your glaring hateful.
—from "O Come, All Ye _____"

Clue 1: The word in the blank means… harmful or deadly.

Clue 2: The word in the blank starts with the letter… B.

Clue 3: The word in the blank sounds like… a near-rhyme for "faithful."

review this word:

1. The opposite of FETED could be

A. HANDED.
B. CHOSEN.
C. SCOLDED.

2. The Guardian described Phoebe Waller-Bridge as "an international _____, feted from the pages of the Sun to the New Yorker."

A. joke
B. menace
C. sensation

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FETE Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FETE

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.