/ English Dictionary |
WEDDING
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony
Example:
their marriage was conducted in the chapel
Synonyms:
marriage; marriage ceremony; wedding
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("wedding" is a kind of...):
rite; ritual (any customary observance or practice)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wedding"):
bridal; espousal (archaic terms for a wedding or wedding feast)
civil marriage (a marriage performed by a government official rather than by a clergyman)
love match (a marriage for love's sake; not an arranged marriage)
remarriage (the act of marrying again)
Derivation:
wed (take in marriage)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed
Synonyms:
hymeneals; nuptials; wedding; wedding ceremony
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("wedding" is a kind of...):
ceremonial; ceremonial occasion; ceremony; observance (a formal event performed on a special occasion)
Derivation:
wed (perform a marriage ceremony)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A party of people at a wedding
Synonyms:
wedding; wedding party
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("wedding" is a kind of...):
party (a group of people gathered together for pleasure)
Meronyms (members of "wedding"):
best man (the principal groomsman at a wedding)
bride (a woman participant in her own marriage ceremony)
bridesmaid; maid of honor (an unmarried woman who attends the bride at a wedding)
flower girl (a young girl who carries flowers in a (wedding) procession)
bridegroom; groom (a man participant in his own marriage ceremony)
groomsman (a male attendant of the bridegroom at a wedding)
trainbearer (one who holds up the train of a gown or robe on a ceremonial occasion)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb wed
Context examples:
In the promotion of this object she was zealously active, as far as her ability reached; and missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
"When I have worked hard and saved me some money, I will go to Colorado," he had told Edith on the day after their wedding.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The yellow cog had been engaged, with Goodwin Hawtayne in command, and a month after the wedding Alleyne rode down to Bucklershard to see if she had come round yet from Southampton.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"Doesn't it seem very long to wait?" asked Amy, who was in a hurry for the wedding.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It was a very proper wedding.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I say, you will come to Belle's wedding, I hope.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Yes: but remember, Jane, you promised to wake with me the night before my wedding.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It was an awkward ceremony at any time to be receiving wedding visits, and a man had need be all grace to acquit himself well through it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
And on the morning of the wedding?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Carriages were seen on their street only for weddings and funerals.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)