ceremony Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a formal event performed on a special occasion
ceremonial occasion; observance; ceremonial.
- a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor
noun any activity that is performed in an especially solemn elaborate or formal way
- the ceremony of smelling the cork and tasting the wine
- he makes a ceremony of addressing his golf ball
- he disposed of it without ceremony
noun the proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion
- an inaugural ceremony

F. cérémonie, L. caerimonia; perh. akin to E. create and from a root signifying to do or make.

plural Ceremonies

Ar act or series of acts, often of a symbolical character, prescribed by law, custom, or authority, in the conduct of important matters, as in the performance of religious duties, the transaction of affairs of state, and the celebration of notable events; as, the ceremony of crowning a sovereign; the ceremonies observed in consecrating a church; marriage and baptismal ceremonies.
According to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it [the Passover]. Numb. ix. 3

Bring her up the high altar, that she may The sacred ceremonies there partake. Spenser.

[The heralds] with awful ceremony And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council. Milton.
Behavior regulated by strict etiquette; a formal method of performing acts of civility; forms of civility prescribed by custom or authority.
Ceremony was but devised at first To set a gloss on . . . hollow welcomes . . . But where there is true friendship there needs none. Shak.

Al ceremonies are in themselves very silly things; but yet a man of the world should know them. Chesterfield.
A ceremonial symbols; an emblem, as a crown, scepter, garland, etc. Obs.
Disrobe the images, If you find them decked with ceremonies. . . . Let no images Be hung with Cæsar's trophies. Shak.
A sign or prodigy; a portent. Obs.
Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet, now they fright me. Shak.