celebrate vs make merry

celebrate and make merry both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
celebrate	No	No	Yes	No
make merry	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, make merry is a hyponym of celebrate; that is, make merry is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than celebrate:

celebrate: have a celebration
make merry: celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities

Other hyponyms of celebrate include jubilate, jollify, make happy, make whoopee, racket, revel, wassail, whoop it up, party, receive.

celebrate (verb)	make merry (verb)
have a celebration	celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities
behave as expected during of holidays or rites
assign great social importance to