adj
Meaning 1
Celebratory; festive.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
gala
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
rhymes with -ɑːlə
-
rhymes with -ælə
-
rhymes with -eɪlə
-
UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɡɑːlə/
-
US: /ˈɡælə/
-
US: /ˈɡeɪlə/
-
US: /ˈɡɑlə/
-
Canada: /ˈɡælə/
-
Northumbria: /ˈɡeɪlə/
-
place: /ˈɡælə/
-
Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
/ˈɡeɪlə/ apple
-
/ˈɡælə/ apple
-
/ˈɡɑːlə/ apple
-
Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
CMU ARPABET: G AE1 L AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
-
CMU ARPABET 2: G EY1 L AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
Galashiels, a town in Scotland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
Galatasaray S.K. (a Turkish sports club best known for its football team)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Pomp, show, or festivity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A competition.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a swimming gala
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A showy and festive party.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A red-skinned variety of eating apple.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A member of an androgynous class of priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A type of apple, a cross-pollination between Kidd's Orange Red and Golden Delicious.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
a gay festivity
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: gala affair, jamboree, blowout
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: celebration, festivity
History
Etymology
From French gala, or directly from that word's etymon, which is either Italian gala, or Spanish gala, both meaning "festive occasion", and derived from Old French gale (“rejoicing”). (The French word likely kept the final -a to avoid homophony with gale (“scabies”).) Ultimately cognate to gallant and hence probably from Frankish *wala (“good, well”).
Clipping of Galashiels.
From Turkish Gala.
Learned borrowing from Sumerian 𒍑𒆪 (gala), related to Akkadian 𒍑𒆪 (kalû). A connection to the similar Phrygian and Roman priests of Cybele called gallae or galli has been suggested, but evidence is lacking.
Across languages
Translations
40 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: празничен (prazničen) — festive
- Bulgarian: тържествен (tǎržestven) — festive
- Czech: slavnostní — festive
- Czech: gala — festive
- Finnish: juhlallinen — festive
- Georgian: სადღესასწაულო (sadɣesasc̣aulo) — festive
- Georgian: საზეიმო (sazeimo) — festive
- Icelandic: hátíð — festive
- Italian: gala — festive
- Norwegian: galla — festive
- Portuguese: de gala — festive
- Portuguese: festivo — festive
- Russian: пра́здничный (prázdničnyj) — festive
- Russian: торже́ственный (toržéstvennyj) — festive
- Russian: парадный (paradnyj) — festive
- Spanish: de gala — festive
- Armenian: հանդես (handes) — pomp, show or festivity
- Bulgarian: тържество (tǎržestvo) — pomp, show or festivity
- Bulgarian: празненство (praznenstvo) — pomp, show or festivity
- Catalan: gala — pomp, show or festivity
- Chinese Mandarin: 典禮 /典礼 (diǎnlǐ) — pomp, show or festivity
- Chinese Mandarin: 慶典 /庆典 (qìngdiǎn) — pomp, show or festivity
- Czech: slavnost — pomp, show or festivity
- Esperanto: festeno — pomp, show or festivity
- Finnish: gaala — pomp, show or festivity
- French: gala — pomp, show or festivity
- French: fête — pomp, show or festivity
- Georgian: ზეიმი (zeimi) — pomp, show or festivity
- Georgian: დღესასწაული (dɣesasc̣auli) — pomp, show or festivity
- Hebrew: גָּאלָה (gála) — pomp, show or festivity
- Portuguese: gala — pomp, show or festivity
- Russian: торжество́ (toržestvó) — pomp, show or festivity
- Russian: пра́зднество (prázdnestvo) — pomp, show or festivity
- Spanish: gala — pomp, show or festivity
- Spanish: fiesta — pomp, show or festivity
- Swedish: gala — pomp, show or festivity
- Tibetan: དུས་སྟོན (dus ston) — pomp, show or festivity
- Tibetan: ལྟད་མོ (ltad mo) — pomp, show or festivity
- Chinese Cantonese: 加拿 — a type of apple
- Chinese Cantonese: 加拿果 — a type of apple