ceremony
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ceremony/ˈserəməni/
▶noun (pl. ceremonies)
- 1 a formal religious or public occasion, typically celebrating a particular event or achievement.
■ an act or series of acts performed according to a traditional or prescribed form.
- 2 the ritual procedures observed at grand formal occasions: the new Queen was proclaimed with due ceremony.
– phrases
stand on ceremony insist on the observance of formalities.
without ceremony without preamble or politeness.
stand on ceremony insist on the observance of formalities.
without ceremony without preamble or politeness.
– origin ME: from OFr. ceremonie or L. caerimonia ‘religious worship’, (pl.) ‘ritual observances’.
'ceremony' also found in these Oxford entries:
anoint
- bar mitzvah
- bat mitzvah
- bris
- celebrate
- celebrity
- ceremonial
- ceremonious
- circumstance
- civil marriage
- commemorate
- commencement
- common law
- confetti
- confirmation
- convocation
- coronation
- corroboree
- drop
- enthrone
- Eucharist
- farewell
- foundation stone
- function
- funeral
- funeral pyre
- Habdalah
- honoree
- investiture
- kiddush
- Low Mass
- matrimony
- Maundy
- -mony
- officiant
- officiate
- opening
- pageantry
- pomp
- powwow
- procession
- pyre
- raku
- retreat
- rite
- ritual
- ritualistic
- sacrament
- samskara
