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Glite Dictionary
national holiday

national holiday

12 1.0
A public day when most shops and government offices close across the whole country
  • noun
  • /ˈnæʃənl ˈhɑːləˌdeɪ/
translation icon : día festivo nacional
  • Thanksgiving is an official national holiday in the United States, Canada, and what other country?
  • celebrate a national holiday
  • declare a national holiday
  • celebration of a national holiday

Here's one single day voting on Election Day as a national holiday with paper ballots and government issued voter ID to match the voter file.

Examples

  • July 14th, Bastille Day, is our national holiday.

  • VP NANCY: Lastly, a reminder that Monday is a national holiday in remembrance of Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Breakthrough (2019)

  • If Monday was a national holiday, then we registered the number of single visitors on Tuesday.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The national holiday celebrating our American freedom is finally back.

    The Forever Purge (2021)

  • February 28 has been declared a national holiday, and a memorial has been constructed to honor the victims.

    Academic text (2002)

  • July 14th, Bastille Day, is our national holiday.

    Bastille Day (2016)

  • But Thanksgiving is the national holiday specifically set aside for giving thanks for one's blessings.

    Blog text (12)

  • The Senate just voted for Juneteenth to be a national holiday by a huge bipartisan margin.

  • The Senate just voted for Juneteenth to be a national holiday by a huge bipartisan margin.

Synonyms

holiday
vsnational holiday
458 1.0

A day when most people do not have to work because of a law or custom

is specifically an official government authorization rather than general custom
day of rest
vsnational holiday
8 2.3

A day when people do not work and relax, often for religious reasons

is declared by the central government to suspend official work rather than private rest
public holiday
vsnational holiday
  • UK
3 1.4

A day when offices and shops are closed by law for most people

is authorized by the central government rather than general legal recognition
bank holiday
vsnational holiday
  • UK
2 2.3

A public holiday when banks and many shops and offices close

is a government-authorized day applying across the whole country not mainly banks
legal holiday
vsnational holiday
  • Formal
1 1.8

A day that the law says people do not work and offices are closed

is authorized by the central government rather than only by statute

How Widely Observed

national holiday
12 1.0
holiday
458 1.0

Surface Forms

national holiday singular
national holidays plural

Morphology

national + holiday

The meaning of 'national holiday' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'national' (relating to the country) with 'holiday' (a day when work is suspended); the phrase simply specifies the scope of the holiday. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard noun–modifier semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the expression.

Etymology

National holiday comes from the idea of a holiday that belongs to the whole nation, when the government officially marks a day for everyone to stop work. So, a national holiday means 'a day the government recognizes for the whole country', with time off and public celebrations.