banquet

banquet — noun

1. an elaborate sit-down dinner served to many guests on a special occasion, usuall

1.nounC1
Definition

an elaborate sit-down dinner served to many guests on a special occasion, usually at long tables and often ending with toasts or speeches praising someone.

Example

The Mayor hosted a banquet for two hundred guests in the city hall.

host a banquet for [number] guests

After the wedding ceremony, Mei and Daniel led their families into the banquet.

wedding banquet — common collocation in Taiwan English usage

Common collocations
  • state banquet
  • wedding banquet
  • banquet hall
  • host a banquet
  • attend a banquet
Synonyms
  • feast

    feast stresses plentiful food and enjoyment; banquet stresses formality and ceremony

  • dinner

    neutral and everyday; only 'banquet' suggests a grand, organised event with many guests

  • reception

    reception focuses on greeting and mingling; banquet focuses on the seated meal

Grammar Patterns

a banquet for [number] guests

a banquet in honour of [person]

Usage Note

Subject is usually an institution, host, or organisation rather than a single private person. Distinguish from sense 2 (figurative): a banquet here is a real meal with seated guests, not a metaphor for abundance.

Common Mistakes

I made a small banquet for my two friends.
I made a small dinner for my two friends.
a banquet is large and formal; for a small home meal, use 'dinner' or 'meal'.
We ate banquet at the hotel.
We had a banquet at the hotel.
'banquet' is countable; it needs an article and pairs with 'have' or 'attend', not bare 'eat'.

2. used in a figurative way: a generous spread of something that gives strong pleas

2.nounC2
Definition

used in a figurative way: a generous spread of something that gives strong pleasure or value to a particular kind of person, as if it were a meal full of treats laid out for them.

Example

The new museum offers a banquet of modern art for anyone who loves bold colour.

a banquet of [noun] for [type of person]

For young readers, this novel is a banquet of strange creatures and hidden maps.

figurative: rich supply aimed at a specific audience

Common collocations
  • a banquet of ideas
  • a banquet of sights
  • a banquet for the senses
Synonyms
  • feast

    more common in this figurative use, e.g. 'a feast for the eyes'

  • treasure trove

    stresses hidden value found; banquet stresses lavish offering presented

  • abundance

    neutral and abstract; 'banquet' adds the image of a generous spread

Antonyms
  • famine

    figurative opposite — a shortage rather than rich supply

Grammar Patterns

a banquet of [noun]

a banquet for [type of person]

Usage Note

Figurative only — there is no real food. Subject is typically an event, work, or place; the prepositional phrase 'of [noun]' names what is offered. Distinguish from sense 1 (a real meal).

Common Mistakes

Her singing was a banquet.
Her singing was a banquet of beautiful sound.
this figurative sense almost always needs 'of [noun]' to name what the banquet is made of.

banquet — verb

Word family

  • banqueting
    adjectiveC2
  • banqueter
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name a meal shared with others, but they sit at different points on a scale of formality and purpose. 'Dinner' is the neutral default — any evening meal, plain or fancy, alone or with guests. 'Feast' highlights the food itself: lots of it, rich, enjoyable, often informal ('a feast of dumplings'). 'Banquet' adds organised ceremony — long tables, a host, an honoured guest, and usually speeches. 'Reception' shifts the focus from eating to greeting; people stand, mingle, and snack, rather than sit down to courses. So a wedding might begin with a reception (mingling with drinks) and continue into a banquet (everyone seated for a formal meal), with dinner the everyday word for either eaten privately at home, and feast describing how the food felt rather than how the event was organised.

banquet ↗feast ↗dinner ↗reception ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • wedding banquet
  • state banquet
  • banquet hall
  • banquet table
  • farewell banquet

Phrases

  • host a banquet
  • attend a banquet
  • lay on a banquet

Prepositions

  • banquet for
  • banquet in honour of
  • banquet of

Etymology

ItalianFrenchEnglish

Banquet entered English in the late 1400s from French 'banquet', a small bench. The French word came from Italian 'banchetto', a tiny version of 'banco' meaning bench or table — so a banquet was first 'a little bench' where light food was served between meals, like a snack-table. Over time the word grew in scale rather than shrinking: by the 1600s it named the grand formal dinner we picture today.