This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn more

Another word for ceremony

a-z
Noun

  1. A formal act or set of acts prescribed by ritual

      1. A department or branch of a hospital staff that provides specified patient care:
      2. A religious rite or formal ceremony:
      3. An answering service.
      1. Any practice, action, or procedure performed or observed regularly, consistently, etc.
      2. (Zoology) A set of actions that an animal performs in a fixed sequence, often as a means of communication:
      3. A ceremony in which the actions and wording follow a prescribed form and order.
      1. A prescribed form or particular system of ceremonial procedure, religious or otherwise; ritual
      2. A ceremonial or formal, solemn act, observance, or procedure in accordance with prescribed rule or custom, as in religious use
      3. Liturgy; esp., any of the historical forms of the Eucharistic service
      1. Public position:
      2. A duty or function assigned to or assumed by someone:
      3. A religious service or set of prayers; esp., Divine Office
      1. The act or custom of keeping or celebrating a holiday or other ritual occasion.
      2. (R.C.Ch.) The rule observed by a religious order
      3. The act or practice of observing, or keeping, a law, duty, custom, rule, etc.
      1. (Christianity) The sacrament of the Eucharist.
      2. A prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship.
      3. The Eucharistic service, esp. (Divine Liturgy) in the Eastern Orthodox Church
      1. A ceremony, or series of ceremonies, prescribed by ritual.
      2. A set of ceremonies prescribed for an occasion; a ritual.
      3. An established system of rites or formal actions connected with an occasion, as in religion; ritual
    See also:

    ritual

  2. A conventional social gesture or act without intrinsic purpose

      1. A book containing rites or ceremonial forms
      2. A set form or system of rites, religious or otherwise
      3. A ceremony in which the actions and wording follow a prescribed form and order.
      1. Rigorous or ceremonious adherence to established forms, rules, or customs.
      2. An established form, rule, or custom, especially one followed merely for the sake of procedure or decorum.
      3. A formal or conventional act or requirement; ceremony or form, often without practical meaning
      1. The way in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself:
      2. A pattern of behavior or performance:
      3. (Linguis.) linguistic form
    See also:

    usual

    ritual

  3. Strict observance of social conventions

    See also:

    courtesy

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for ceremony

Noun

  1. A public event

    See also:

    celebration

  2. A formal act

      1. A pretentious or hypocritical show or ceremony.
      2. Any display or ceremony regarded as pretentious or hypocritical
      3. A ridiculous or ostentatious ceremony, especially of a religious nature
      1. The chanting of words or formulas that are believed to cast a spell or perform other magic
      2. Ritual recitation of verbal charms or spells to produce a magic effect.
      3. A conventionalized utterance repeated without thought or aptness; a formula:
      1. A long-established, authoritative custom
      2. A doctor's written direction for the preparation and use of medicine, the grinding of lenses for eyeglasses, etc.
      3. A written order, especially by a physician, for the preparation and administration of a medicine or other treatment.
      1. The way in which words or phrases are actually used, spoken, or written in a speech community:
      2. A particular expression in speech or writing:
      3. Correct or proper use of language, proclaimed by some authority.
      1. The quality, fact, or condition of being conventional
      2. The state, quality, or character of being conventional.
      3. A conventional form, usage, or rule
      1. A customary practice, rule, method, etc.; usage
      2. The body of persons attending such an assembly:
      3. A practice or procedure widely observed in a group, especially to facilitate social interaction; a custom:
      1. Strict or excessive attention to or insistence on outward forms, as in art, or established traditions, as in religion
      2. (Literature) An approach to interpretation and/or evaluation focused on the (usually linguistic) structure of a literary work rather than on the contexts of its origin or reception.
      3. (Mathematics, physics) A particular mathematical or scientific theory or description of a given state or effect.
      1. Delicacy of character or feeling; fastidiousness; scrupulousness.
      2. The quality of showing or requiring careful, precise treatment:
      3. The quality or state of being nice
      1. (Countable) The result or product of being strict.
      2. (Uncountable) The state or quality of being strict.
      1. (Dated) pedantic behaviour
      2. The condition of being precise; precision
      1. Conformity to conventional standards of behavior or morality.
      2. Conformity with accepted standards of proper manners or behavior
      3. (Archaic) Peculiar or proper nature or state
      1. An act or requirement of polite behavior
      2. The conventions or requirements of polite behavior:
      3. The appropriateness of an element of an artistic or literary work, such as style or tone, to its particular circumstance or to the composition as a whole.
      1. The rules for such forms, manners, and ceremonies
      2. The forms, manners, and ceremonies established by convention as acceptable or required in social relations, in a profession, or in official life
      1. A set of rules governing the communication and the transfer of data between machines, as in a computer system
      2. In science and medicine, a formal set of rules and procedures to be followed during a particular research experiment, course of treatment, etc.
      3. The code of ceremonial forms and courtesies, of precedence, etc. accepted as proper and correct in official dealings, as between heads of state or diplomatic officials
      1. A religious rite similar to a Christian sacrament, as in character or meaning.
      2. The Eucharist, or Holy Communion; also, the consecrated bread and wine, or sometimes the bread alone, used in the Eucharist
      3. (Christianity) A rite believed to be a means of or visible form of grace, especially:
      1. An authoritative command or order.
      2. A statute or regulation, especially one enacted by a city government.
      3. An established or prescribed practice or usage, esp. a religious rite
      1. (Christianity) The sacrament of the Eucharist.
      2. A prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship.
      3. The Eucharistic service, esp. (Divine Liturgy) in the Eastern Orthodox Church
      1. A precept or a body of precepts that are not written in the sacred book of a religion, such as the Bible, but are considered holy or true.
      2. A long-established custom or practice having the effect of precedent or unwritten law
      3. A style or method of an activity or practice, especially of artistic expression, that is recognized and sometimes imitated:
      1. (Law) Such usage as by common consent and long-established, uniform practice has taken on the force of law
      2. Habitual patronage, as of a store:
      3. Under feudalism, a service, rent, etc. regularly paid to a lord
      1. A ceremony, or series of ceremonies, prescribed by ritual.
      2. A set of ceremonies prescribed for an occasion; a ritual.
      3. An established system of rites or formal actions connected with an occasion, as in religion; ritual
      1. An established form, rule, or custom, especially one followed merely for the sake of procedure or decorum.
      2. Rigorous or ceremonious adherence to established forms, rules, or customs.
      3. A formal or conventional act or requirement; ceremony or form, often without practical meaning
      1. Solemn ceremony, ritual, observance, etc.
      2. Solemn feeling, character, or appearance; serious or awesome quality; gravity
      3. (Law) The formality needed to validate an act, contract, etc.
      1. A department or branch of a hospital staff that provides specified patient care:
      2. A religious rite or formal ceremony:
      3. An answering service.
      1. The act or custom of keeping or celebrating a holiday or other ritual occasion.
      2. (R.C.Ch.) The rule observed by a religious order
      3. The act or practice of observing, or keeping, a law, duty, custom, rule, etc.
      1. A prescribed form or particular system of ceremonial procedure, religious or otherwise; ritual
      2. A ceremonial or formal, solemn act, observance, or procedure in accordance with prescribed rule or custom, as in religious use
      3. Liturgy; esp., any of the historical forms of the Eucharistic service
      1. A set form or system of rites, religious or otherwise
      2. (Zoology) A set of actions that an animal performs in a fixed sequence, often as a means of communication:
      3. A ceremony in which the actions and wording follow a prescribed form and order.

Idioms:

    stand-on-ceremony

Synonym Study

  • Formality suggests a conventional, often meaningless, act or custom, usually one associated with social activity the formalities of polite conversation
  • Ritual refers to rites or ceremonies collectively, esp. to the rites of a particular religion the ritual of voodooism, and in extended use is applied to a regularly repeated act or series of acts performed in a set, ceremonial manner bedtime rituals
  • Rite refers to the prescribed form for a religious ceremony or procedure burial rites
  • Ceremony refers to a formal, usually solemn, act established as proper to some religious or state occasion the ceremony of launching a ship
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • Your marriage ceremony bound you to him.

  • We should never stand upon ceremony with sincerity.

  • One peculiarity of the ceremony had occasioned considerable discussion.

  • His intention - -to complete the mating ceremony - -exploded into her thoughts.

  • This ceremony, after being almost forgotten, has been revived in modern times.

More sentences →

Words that mention ceremony in the Dictionary

Words near ceremony in the Thesaurus