| / English Dictionary |
CEREMONY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any activity that is performed in an especially solemn elaborate or formal way
Example:
he disposed of it without ceremony
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("ceremony" is a kind of...):
activity (any specific behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ceremony"):
chanoyu; tea ceremony (an ancient ritual for preparing and serving and drinking tea)
Derivation:
ceremonial (marked by pomp or ceremony or formality)
ceremonious (rigidly formal or bound by convention)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion
Example:
an inaugural ceremony
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("ceremony" is a kind of...):
activity (any specific behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ceremony"):
groundbreaking; groundbreaking ceremony (the ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project)
purgation; purification (a ceremonial cleansing from defilement or uncleanness by the performance of appropriate rites)
lustrum (a ceremonial purification of the Roman population every five years following the census)
religious ceremony; religious ritual (a ceremony having religious meaning)
military ceremony (a military custom performed in observance of some event or anniversary)
presentation (the activity of formally presenting something (as a prize or reward))
Derivation:
ceremonial (marked by pomp or ceremony or formality)
ceremonious (rigidly formal or bound by convention)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A formal event performed on a special occasion
Example:
a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor
Synonyms:
ceremonial; ceremonial occasion; ceremony; observance
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("ceremony" is a kind of...):
affair; function; occasion; social function; social occasion (a vaguely specified social event)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ceremony"):
potlatch (a ceremonial feast held by some Indians of the northwestern coast of North America (as in celebrating a marriage or a new accession) in which the host gives gifts to tribesmen and others to display his superior wealth (sometimes, formerly, to his own impoverishment))
Maundy (a public ceremony on Maundy Thursday when the monarch distributes Maundy money)
formalities; formality (a requirement of etiquette or custom)
fire walking (the ceremony of walking barefoot over hot stones or a bed of embers)
exercise ((usually plural) a ceremony that involves processions and speeches)
induction; initiation; installation (a formal entry into an organization or position or office)
military ceremony (a formal ceremony performed by military personnel)
commemoration; memorialisation; memorialization (a ceremony to honor the memory of someone or something)
opening (a ceremony accompanying the start of some enterprise)
dedication (a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose)
pageant; pageantry (a rich and spectacular ceremony)
hymeneals; nuptials; wedding; wedding ceremony (the social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed)
funeral; obsequy (a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated)
circumstance (formal ceremony about important occasions)
Derivation:
ceremonial (marked by pomp or ceremony or formality)
Context examples:
They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt as this.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When are you to be married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or a private wedding?
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
There had been a time when he would have scorned her as a companion, and turned from her with little ceremony.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
And letting himself out, he walked off without farther ceremony.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
"You and I, Sir John," said Mrs. Jennings, "should not stand upon such ceremony."
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
The master of the ceremonies introduced to her a very gentlemanlike young man as a partner; his name was Tilney.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The men holding the hatch-cover seemed perplexed, puzzled no doubt by the briefness of the ceremony.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Ceremonies can be casual or formal.
(Ceremony, NCI Dictionary)
You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a little, some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It is a sort of ceremony peculiar to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has gone through on his coming of age—a thing of private interest, and perhaps of some little importance to the archaeologist, like our own blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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