piñata
Americannoun
plural
piñatas-
(in Mexico and Central America) colorful papier-mâché figure or cheerfully decorated crock filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above, especially during Christmas or birthday festivities, so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks and release the contents.
noun
-
a papier-mâché party decoration filled with sweets, hung up during parties, and struck with a stick until it breaks open
Etymology
Origin of piñata
1885–90; < Spanish: literally, pot < Italian pignatta, probably derivative of dial. pigna pinecone (from the pot's shape) < Latin pīnea, noun use of feminine of pīneus of the pine tree; pine 1, -eous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The economy may be less like a tire swing that always bounces back after being whacked with a stick, and more like a piñata that eventually bursts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
The piñata was a collaboration with a family-run piñata house.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
In 2018, he smashed a piñata of the Central Bank on live television.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2025
It’s like watching hands frantically reach out for candy after a piñata has been broken into — gluttony at its finest.
From Salon • May 11, 2025
A huge mass of bees dangled like a living piñata from the weathered chat ’n’ chew diner sign.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.