Search Result for "ceremony": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. a formal event performed on a special occasion;
- Example: "a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor"
[syn: ceremony, ceremonial, ceremonial occasion, observance]

2. any activity that is performed in an especially solemn elaborate or formal way;
- Example: "the ceremony of smelling the cork and tasting the wine"
- Example: "he makes a ceremony of addressing his golf ball"
- Example: "he disposed of it without ceremony"

3. the proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion;
- Example: "an inaugural ceremony"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ceremony \Cer"e*mo*ny\, n.; pl. Ceremonies. [F. c['e]r['e]monie, L. caerimonia; perh. akin to E. create and from a root signifying to do or make.] 1. 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. [1913 Webster] According to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it [the Passover]. --Numb. ix. 3 [1913 Webster] Bring her up the high altar, that she may The sacred ceremonies there partake. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] [The heralds] with awful ceremony And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. Behavior regulated by strict etiquette; a formal method of performing acts of civility; forms of civility prescribed by custom or authority. [1913 Webster] Ceremony was but devised at first To set a gloss on . . . hollow welcomes . . . But where there is true friendship there needs none. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Al ceremonies are in themselves very silly things; but yet a man of the world should know them. --Chesterfield. [1913 Webster] 3. A ceremonial symbols; an emblem, as a crown, scepter, garland, etc. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Disrobe the images, If you find them decked with ceremonies. . . . Let no images Be hung with C[ae]sar's trophies. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. A sign or prodigy; a portent. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] C[ae]sar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet, now they fright me. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Master of ceremonies, an officer who determines the forms to be observed, or superintends their observance, on a public occasion. Not to stand on ceremony, not to be ceremonious; to be familiar, outspoken, or bold. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ceremony n 1: a formal event performed on a special occasion; "a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor" [syn: ceremony, ceremonial, ceremonial occasion, observance] 2: 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" 3: the proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion; "an inaugural ceremony"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

109 Moby Thesaurus words for "ceremony": amenities, anniversaries, appearances, baccalaureate service, buckram, celebrating, celebration, ceremonial, ceremonies, ceremoniousness, civilities, commemoration, commencement, convention, conventions, convocation, decorum, dignities, dignity, dressing ship, duty, elegancies, empty formality, etiquette, exercise, exercises, extrinsicality, fanfare, fanfaronade, festivity, flourish of trumpets, form, form of worship, formal, formalities, formality, formalization, formula, formulary, function, gentilities, graces, graduation, graduation exercises, gravity, holiday, holy rite, impersonality, inaugural, inauguration, initiation, institution, jubilee, liturgy, marking the occasion, memorialization, memory, mode of worship, motions, mummery, mystery, niceties, obsequies, observance, office, order of worship, ordinance, ovation, performance, pomp, pomposity, practice, prescribed form, primness, proprieties, protocol, rejoicing, religious ceremony, religious rites, remembrance, revel, rigidness, rite, rite de passage, rite of passage, rites, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, rituals, sacrament, sacramental, salute, salvo, service, solemn observance, solemnity, solemnization, starchiness, stiffness, stiltedness, stylization, testimonial, testimonial banquet, testimonial dinner, toast, tribute, triumph, weight