vacation

See also: VACation

English

Etymology

From Middle English vacation, vacacion, vacacioun, from Anglo-Norman vacacioun, from Old French vacacion, vacation, from Latin vacātiō. Equivalent to vacate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /vəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/, /veɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
• (General American) enPR: vā-kā'shən, IPA^(key): /veɪˈkeɪʃən/, /vəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən, -eɪʃn
• Hyphenation: va‧ca‧tion

Noun

vacation (countable and uncountable, plural vacations)

1. Freedom from some business or activity. [from 14th c.]
2. (obsolete) Free time given over to a specific purpose; occupation, activity. [15th–17th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 28, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     The first exploited his, sundrie waies, and excelleth in military exploits, and utilitie of his publike vacations.

3. A period during which official activity or business is formally suspended; an official holiday from university, law courts etc. [from 15th c.]
4. (Canada, US) A holiday; a stretch of leisure time away from work or duty and devoted to rest or pleasure. [from 19th c.]
5. An extended period of time away from work or school.

   Spring vacation offers a good opportunity to travel.

6. The act of vacating something; moving out. [from 19th c.]

   The Conservative Party’s vacation of the centre ground gave an opportunity to its opponents.

7. (US, law) The act of making legally void.

Synonyms

• (freedom from some activity): holiday (Commonwealth)
• (free time given over to a specific purpose): annulment, revocation
• (a stretch of leisure time away from work): holiday (Commonwealth); see also Thesaurus:vacation
• (act of vacating something): departure, moveout

Derived terms

• come on vacation, leave on probation
• coolcation
• daycation
• gaycation
• girlcation
• grippy socks vacation
• grippy sock vacation
• haycation
• homecation
• long vacation
• mancation
• microvacation
• minivacation
• naycation
• nearcation
• nonvacation
• postvacation
• prevacation
• racecation
• sexcation
• sleepcation
• staycation
• summer vacation
• vacation day
• vacationer
• vacationgoer
• vacation home
• vacationist
• Vacationland
• vacationland
• vacationless
• vacationship
• vacation time
• vaca, vacay
• workcation

 

Translations

freedom from some business or activity

• Bulgarian: вака́нция (bg) f (vakáncija)
• Czech: prázdniny (cs) f pl
• French: vacances (fr) f or pl
• Hungarian: szünet (hu)
• Latin: cessātiō f
• Portuguese: férias (pt)

official holiday period

• Belarusian: кані́кулы f pl (kaníkuly)
• Bulgarian: вака́нция (bg) f (vakáncija)
• Catalan: vacança (ca) f
• Danish: ferie (da) c
• Estonian: puhkus
• Finnish: loma (fi)
• French: vacances (fr) f or pl
• Georgian: არდადეგები (ardadegebi)
• German: Ferien (de) f pl
• Hebrew: חופשה \ חֻפְשָׁה (he) f (khufshá)
• Hungarian: szabadság (hu), munkaszünet (hu), pihenőidő (hu)
• Italian: vacanza (it) f, feria (it) f
• Latin: fēriae f pl
• Macedonian: распуст m (raspust)
• Portuguese: feriado (pt), féria (pt) f
• Russian: кани́кулы (ru) f pl (kaníkuly)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prozniny pl, ferije pl

• Spanish: vacación (es) f, feriado (es) m
• Swedish: lov (sv) n (schools and universities), ferie (sv) c (schools)
• Ukrainian: кані́кули f pl (kaníkuly)
• Vietnamese: nghỉ lễ

holiday, period of leisure time

• Albanian: pushim (sq) m
• Arabic: عُطْلَة f (ʕuṭla), إِجَازَة f (ʔijāza)

  Hijazi Arabic: إجازة f (ʔijāza)

• Armenian: արձակուրդ (hy) (arjakurd)
• Azerbaijani: məzuniyyət (az) pl, tətil (az)
• Basque: opor
• Belarusian: адпачы́нак m (adpačýnak), во́дпуск m (vódpusk), кані́кулы f pl (kaníkuly) (students, MP's)
• Bulgarian: вака́нция (bg) f (vakáncija), о́тпуска (bg) f (ótpuska), о́тпуск (bg) m (ótpusk)
• Burmese: အားလပ်ရက် (a:lap-rak), အလုပ်ပိတ်ရက် (my) (a.luppitrak)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎾᏦᏪᏐᎸᏍᏛ (unatsowesolvsdv)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 假期 (gaa³ kei⁴)

  Mandarin: 假期 (zh) (jiàqī)

• Czech: prázdniny (cs) f pl (at school), dovolená (cs) f (at work), dovolená (cs) f
• Danish: ferie (da) c
• Dutch: vakantie (nl) f
• Esperanto: libertempo
• Estonian: puhkus
• Finnish: loma (fi), vapaapäivä (fi)
• French: vacances (fr) f or pl
• Galician: vacacións f pl
• Georgian: არდადეგები (ardadegebi)
• German: Ferien (de) f pl, Urlaub (de) m
• Greek: διακοπές (el) f pl (diakopés)
• Hebrew: חופש \ חֹפֶשׁ (he) m (khófesh)
• Hindi: छुट्टी (hi) f (chuṭṭī)
• Hungarian: szabadság (hu), vakáció (hu), szünidő (hu), nyaralás (hu)
• Icelandic: frí (is) n
• Ido: vakanco (io)
• Interlingua: vacantia
• Italian: vacanza (it) f
• Japanese: 休暇 (ja) (きゅうか, kyūka), 休み (ja) (やすみ, yasumi), バカンス (ja) (bakansu), ヴァカンス (vakansu), バケーション (ja) (bakēshon)
• Kazakh: демалыс (demalys)
• Khmer: រហែ (km) (rɔhae), ល្ហែ (km) (lhae)
• Korean: 휴가(休暇) (ko) (hyuga)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: betlane (ku), tatîl (ku)

• Kyrgyz: отпуск (ky) (otpusk), дем алыш (ky) (dem alış)
• Ladino: vakansas
• Lao: ຍາມພັກ (nyām phak), ມື້ພັກ (lo) (mư̄ phak)
• Latin: cessātiō, fēriae f pl
• Latvian: brīvdiena f
• Lithuanian: atóstogos (lt) f
• Macedonian: одмор (mk) m (odmor)
• Malay: cuti (ms)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: амралт (mn) (amralt)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ferie (no) m

  Nynorsk: ferie m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: تَعْطیل (fa) (ta'til), تَعْطیلات (fa) (ta'tilât)

• Plautdietsch: Vakassion m
• Polish: wakacje (pl) pl
• Portuguese: férias (pt) f pl, vacação (pt) f, tolerância (pt)
• Quechua: samay pacha
• Romanian: vacanță (ro) f
• Russian: о́тпуск (ru) m (ótpusk), (students, MP's) кани́кулы (ru) f pl (kaníkuly), (short, may be unpaid) отгу́л (ru) m (otgúl)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ра́спуст m, о̀дмор m, фе̑рије f pl, пра̑знӣк m

  Roman: ráspust (sh) m, òdmor (sh) m, fȇrije (sh) f pl, prȃznīk (sh) m

• Slovak: dovolenka f
• Slovene: dopust m, počitnice f pl
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prozniny pl, ferije pl, dowol m

• Spanish: vacaciones (es) f pl, vacación (es) f
• Swedish: semester (sv) c, ledighet (sv) c
• Tajik: таътил (tg) (taʾtil)
• Thai: วันหยุด (th) (wan-yùt)
• Tibetan: གུང་གསེང (gung gseng)
• Turkish: tatil (tr)
• Turkmen: dynç alyş, kanikul (students)
• Ukrainian: відпу́стка f (vidpústka), кані́кули f pl (kaníkuly) (students, MP's)
• Urdu: چُھٹّی f (chuṭṭī), تَعْطِیل f (ta'tīl), تَعْطِیلات f pl (ta'tīlāt)
• Uyghur: دەم ئېلىش (dem ëlish)
• Uzbek: otpuska (uz), dam olish, taʻtil
• Vietnamese: kỳ nghỉ, nghỉ hè (vi)
• Yiddish: וואַקאַציע f (vakatsye)

the act of vacating something; moving out of something

• Bulgarian: опра́зване (bg) n (oprázvane), освобожда́ване (bg) n (osvoboždávane)
• Danish: fratrædelse c, fraflytning c
• Estonian: vabastamine
• Finnish: tyhjentäminen (fi), hylkääminen (fi), jättäminen (fi), poismuutto, lähtö (fi)
• Georgian: გათავისუფლება (gatavisupleba)
• German: Preisgabe (de) f
• Hungarian: kiürítés (hu), kiköltözés (hu), (becoming or being vacant) megüresedés (hu), üresedés (hu), betöltetlenség
• Macedonian: испразнување n (ispraznuvanje), ослободување n (osloboduvanje), оставање n (ostavanje)
• Portuguese: vacação (pt) f, vagação f, vacatura (pt) f, vagatura f
• Russian: освобожде́ние (ru) n (osvoboždénije), оставле́ние (ru) n (ostavlénije)
• Spanish: vacación (es) f (rare)

the act of making legally void

• Estonian: tühistamine, annuleerimine
• Finnish: mitätöinti (fi)
• Georgian: გაუქმება (gaukmeba)
• German: Annullierung (de) f
• Hungarian: érvénytelenítés (hu), megsemmisítés (hu), hatályon kívül helyezés
• Japanese: 休廷 (きゅうてい, kyūtei)
• Macedonian: поништување n (poništuvanje)
• Romanian: anulare (ro), golire (ro)
• Russian: отме́на (ru) f (otména)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} vacanza (it) f (1)

Verb

vacation (third-person singular simple present vacations, present participle vacationing, simple past and past participle vacationed)

1. (intransitive) To spend or take a vacation.

   This year, we’re vacationing in Mexico.

Synonyms

• (UK) go on holiday
• go on vacation
• holiday

Translations

to spend or take a vacation

• Catalan: fer vacances
• Danish: tage på ferie, holde ferie
• Dutch: op vakantie gaan
• Esperanto: ferii
• Finnish: lomailla (fi); viettää lomaa (spend a vacation), viettää loma (spend a vacation completely)
• French: aller en vacances
• Galician: ir de vacacións
• German: Urlaub machen, Ferien machen
• Hungarian: szabadságra megy, szabadságot vesz ki, szabadságát tölti, vakációzik (hu), nyaral (hu), üdül (hu)
• Icelandic: fara í frí
• Irish: dul ar saoire
• Italian: andare in vacanza
• Japanese: 休暇を取る (ja) (kyūka o toru), 休みを取る (ja) (yasumi o toru)
• Macedonian: о́дмора (ódmora), ко́ристи го́дишен о́дмор (kóristi gódišen ódmor)
• Portuguese: sair de férias
• Russian: проводи́ть о́тпуск (provodítʹ ótpusk), провести́ о́тпуск (provestí ótpusk)
• Spanish: vacacionar (es)
• Swedish: semestra (sv)
• Vietnamese: đi nghỉ, nghỉ mát (vi)
• Welsh: mynd ar wyliau

Related terms

• vacate

Anagrams

• Octavian

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ka.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

vacation f (plural vacations)

1. (law) session

Further reading

• “vacation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.