Phrase guide

red letter day

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A day marked in red on calendars; a church feast day.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A particularly significant day; a day of personal or sectarian celebration.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • Monday was a red letter day for her. She accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.
  • We saw losses for days in a row, but Black Tuesday was the worst red letter day of them all.
  • 2010, Eric Braun, Doris Day, Hachette, Revised and updated edition, unnumbered page, That was, indeed, a red-letter day in my filmgoing life, and a red-letter day in my literary life was when I was asked to write a new biography of Doris Day.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: day of days, red letter date

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

An allusion to the practice, dating to classical antiquity, of marking important days in red on calendars.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: diada — day of special significance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大日子 (dàrìzǐ) — day of special significance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 里程碑 (lǐchéngbēi) — day of special significance
  • Finnish: merkkipäivä — day of special significance
  • Hungarian: piros betűs nap — day of special significance
  • Hungarian: piros betűs ünnep — day of special significance
  • Norwegian Bokmål: merkedag — day of special significance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: merkedag — day of special significance
  • Russian: па́мятный день (pámjatnyj denʹ) — day of special significance
  • Russian: пра́здник (prázdnik) — day of special significance
  • Swedish: röd dag — day of special significance