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Christmas vs Nativity - What's the difference?

christmas | nativity |

As nouns the difference between christmas and nativity

is that christmas is christmas Day, the day it is celebrated, 25 December, an English quarter day while nativity is someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.

As a proper noun Christmas

is a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian and secular customs.

christmas

English

(wikipedia Christmas)

Alternative forms

* Xmas, X-mas

Proper noun

(es)
  • A widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian and secular customs.
    • Do you celebrate Christmas ?
  • A personification of Christmas.

    • Coordinate terms

    *Mawlid

    Noun

    (es)
  • Christmas Day, the day it is celebrated, 25 December, an English quarter day.
    • This Christmas we'll open presents then go to grandma's for dinner.
  • Christmastide, the Twelve Days of Christmas, the season (traditionally from the 24th of December to the 6th of January) around the holiday.
  • (US, retailing) The period from the Friday following Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, busy with shopping and preparations for Christmas.
    • The last three Christmases have been good for retailers.
  • (marketing, retailing) Christmas season, the end of the year period, busy with shopping and preparations for Christmas.
    • The Christmas shoppers spent less this December, than last year, but our store will probably see just as many returned items during the twelve days of Christmas.

    Synonyms

    * Yule * Noel * Chrissy * Chrimble (Crimble), Crimbo (Chrimbo)

    Derived terms

    * Christmas box * Christmas cake * Christmas card * Christmas carol * Christmas club * Christmas cracker * Christmas creep * Christmas Day * Christmas Eve * Christmas Island * Christmas present * Christmas pudding * Christmassy * Christmas star * Christmas stocking * Christmastide * Christmas time * Christmas tree * Father Christmas * Merry Christmas * like turkeys voting for Christmas * Shitmas * Twelve Days of Christmas * white Christmas * X-mas/Xmas * Christmas is coming

    Descendants

    * geresma

    See also

    (associated entries) * Advent * Black Friday * Boxing Day * Christmas Eve * * Yule * Yuletide ----

    nativity

    English

    Noun

    (nativities)
  • (also with capital initial) The birth of Jesus.
  • (Christianity) The festival celebrating the birth of Jesus; Christmas Day.
  • (astrology) Someone's birth considered as a means of astrology; a horoscope associated with a person's birth.
  • * 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 313:
    • Accordingly […] he was careful, as befitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, to note the exact nativity of his subjects whenever it could be discovered; in this way he hoped to make possible a scientific comparison of the course of human life with the astrological circumstances of its inception, and ths to arrive at a more exact astrology.

    Derived terms

    * nativity play * Nativity Scene

    Related terms

    * natal * natality * native

    See also

    * calvary