picnic

A relaxed outdoor gathering where people bring food and eat together.

• Let's have a picnic in the park.
• They organized a family picnic by the lake.
• Will you join us for the school picnic on Saturday?

Common phrases: have a picnic, go on a picnic, family picnic, picnic in something

A meal you bring with you and eat outside, often in a park or the countryside.

• We ate our picnic under a tree.
• She packed a picnic of bread, cheese, and fruit.
• Our picnic was ruined when ants got into the sandwiches.

Similar words: outdoor meal, packed lunch

Common phrases: pack a picnic, picnic lunch, picnic basket, eat a picnic

Something easy or pleasant to do, usually mentioned when saying a task is difficult.

• This job is no picnic.
• Looking after six puppies was hardly a picnic.
• Compared with the last exam, this one was a picnic.

How to use it: be no picnic (Moving house with three children is no picnic.)

Similar words: breeze, piece of cake, easy task

Opposites: ordeal

Common phrases: no picnic, be a picnic, hardly a picnic

To bring food somewhere outdoors and eat it there, usually for pleasure.

• We often picnic in the park.
• They picnicked beside the river yesterday.
• Families were picnicking on the grass near the beach.

Similar words: eat outdoors, have a picnic

Common phrases: picnic by something, picnic in something, picnic on something