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dinner party

dinner party

75 1.0
An event where people are invited to eat dinner together
  • noun
  • /ˈdɪnər ˈpɑrti/
translation icon : cena
  • At one point, around Christmas, he went to a dinner party, but he did not enjoy it.
  • a dinner party host
  • dinner party guests
  • give a dinner party

Sat next to Don Johnson once at a dinner party at Rob Lowe's house.

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Examples

  • Imagine that you are hosting a dinner party for all of the women in this article.

    Academic text (2010)
  • Perhaps we should throw a dinner party as well for all our old friends.

  • And at a dinner party in London, some friend of mine told the story.

  • My first kiss was at a dinner party with a bunch of those friends that I used to hang out with.

  • There was always a woman at the dinner party for me to meet.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • You love throwing dinner parties.

  • I happened to mention it at a dinner party one evening, and Peterson was interested.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I love hosting dinner parties, gatherings for people to come over here.

  • I'm arranging a small dinner party for you.

  • My boss invited me to a dinner party at his place tonight.

Synonyms

party
vsdinner party
1.0

An event where people meet to celebrate, eat, and have fun

is limited to a planned evening meal with invited guests rather than any celebration
dinner
vsdinner party
  • Formal
639 1.0

A formal meal in the evening where people meet for social or business reasons

is a social event with invited guests rather than any meal
supper
vsdinner party
317 1.0

A light evening meal often shared with other people

is a social invited evening meal, usually more formal or substantial
banquet
vsdinner party
  • Formal
114 3.9

A large formal meal for many people to celebrate a special event

is a smaller invited social meal rather than a large formal feast
soiree
vsdinner party
  • Formal
23 7.5

An evening party at someone's home

is specifically a social invited meal rather than just an evening gathering
sit-down
vsdinner party
21 3.6

A formal meal or meeting where people sit together to talk

is focused on friendly social dining with invited guests rather than a meeting
formal dinner
vsdinner party
  • Formal
4 3.3

A dinner where guests wear very smart clothes and follow strict manners

is the same social meal but more relaxed about dress and behaviour

How Formal

banquet
  • Formal
114 3.9
formal dinner
  • Formal
4 3.3
dinner party
75 1.0
get-together
  • Informal
46 1.9

Surface Forms

dinner party singular

Morphology

dinner + party

The meaning 'a social event where guests are invited to have dinner together' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'dinner' (an evening meal) with 'party' (a social occasion). This noun + noun compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Dinner party comes from joining dinner, the main evening meal, and party, a social gathering. It gives the image of people sitting together to eat and talk, so dinner party means 'a social event where guests are invited to have dinner together'.