ceremonial
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
A formal event performed on a special occasion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehruhmohneeuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɛɹəˈmoʊniəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony.
Used only for the purpose of ceremony; symbolic.
noun
A ceremony, or series of ceremonies, prescribed by ritual.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony.
Used this way, ceremonial is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Formal and ceremonial
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A formal event performed on a special occasion.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A formal event performed on a special occasion.
A dance that is part of a religious ritual.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.