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Glite Dictionary
to party on

to party on

4 8.1
To continue celebrating and having fun even when things go wrong
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : seguir de fiesta
  • -Hey, party on!
  • Get your party on
  • party on the beach

So I've been sent images of me with the woman partying on a boat in Ibiza.

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Examples

  • Apparently it's time to party on, dude.

    Global Heresy (2002)

  • If you think the current state of affairs is an amalgamation of contending forces with no inherent plan, then... party on, dude.

    Blog text (26)

  • Getting their party on, man, you got to be playing with me.

    A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)

  • We're gonna make money here today, then we're gonna party on the beach.

    The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)

  • Let's get our little party on.

    The Brothers (2001)

  • Some people just want to party on Friday nights.

    Blog text (19)

  • Party on!

    Jarhead (2005)

  • Party on, Brad.

    Teenage Badass (2020)

  • If you've got SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, I say party on, start with Facebook and just go wild.

  • Even during tough times, we can always party on and enjoy ourselves.

Synonyms

to party
vsto party on
  • Informal
298 3.0

To spend time with others celebrating, dancing, and drinking

continues celebrating despite setbacks rather than just attending gatherings
to rock on
vsto party on
  • Informal
12 7.3

Keep enjoying an activity with a lot of energy

continues celebrating despite setbacks rather than only lively enjoyment

Antonyms

to give up
∞ 1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

How Hard

to carouse
  • Archaic
4 9.3
to revel
17 4.9
to party on
  • Informal
4 8.1
to celebrate
∞ 1.4

Surface Forms

party on infinitive
partied on past
partied on past participle
partying on present participle
parties on third person singular

Morphology

party + on

The meaning 'to continue celebrating' is directly built from the verb 'party' (to join in revelry) plus the particle 'on' indicating continuation or persistence, so the combined sense is a straightforward compositional extension. This motion/continuation particle + verb pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase party on comes from the simple image of a party that keeps going. The word on means 'continuing', so to party on is 'to keep celebrating' even when things go wrong.