ceremonies

Noun

ceremony (countable and uncountable, plural ceremonies or (Early Modern) ceremonys)

1. A ritual, with religious or cultural significance.
   • To whom the Priest with naked armes full net
     Approching nigh, and murdrous knife well whet,
     Gan mutter close a certaine secret charme,
     With other diuelish ceremonies met:1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, pages 463-464
2. An official gathering to celebrate, commemorate, or otherwise mark some event.
   • a graduation ceremony, an opening ceremony
   1. A wedding ceremony; a marriage.
3. (uncountable) A formal socially established behaviour, often in relation to people of different ranks; formality.
   • […] to feed were best at home;
     From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;
     Meeting were bare without it.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
4. (uncountable) Show of magnificence, display, ostentation.
   • Meanwhile the winged Heralds, by command
     Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony
     And trumpet’s sound, throughout the host proclaim
     A solemn council forthwith to be held
     At Pandemonium […]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
5. (obsolete) An accessory or object associated with a ritual.
   • […] his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man […]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

See all 7 meanings of ceremony