ceremonious

Learned borrowing from Middle French cérémonieux (modern French cérémonieux) or directly from its etymon Latin caerimōniōsus + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Caerimōniōsus is derived from Latin caerimōnia (“awe, reverence, veneration; sacredness, sanctity; religious ceremony, ritual”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to build, make; to do”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly’ forming adjectives from nouns). By surface analysis, ceremony +‎ -ous.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɛ.ɹɪˈməʊ.nɪ.əs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛ.ɹəˈmoʊ.ni.əs/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊniəs
• Hyphenation: ce‧re, ous

ceremonious (comparative more ceremonious, superlative most ceremonious)

1. According to the required or usual ceremonies, formalities, or rituals; specifically (Christianity, obsolete), to ceremonial laws in the Bible.

   Antonyms: (obsolete, rare) inceremonious, unceremonious

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), , The Tragedie of King Richard the Second.  (First Quarto), London: Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, , published 1597, →OCLC, , signature B2, verso:

     et vs take a ceremonious leaue, / And louing farevvell of our ſeuerall friends.

   • 1759 March 31, , “The Idler. No. 51.”, in The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette, volume II, number 52, London: R. Stevens, ere all persons regularly served with this paper.">…], →OCLC, page 1, column 2:

     VVhen vve deſcribe our ſenſations of another's ſorrovvs, either in friendly or ceremonious condolence, the cuſtoms of the vvorld ſcarcely admit of rigid veracity.

   • 1813 January 27, , chapter XI, in Pride and Prejudice: , volume III, London: ">…] for T Egerton, , →OCLC, page 202:

     Bingley, she had likewise seen for an instant, and in that short period saw him looking both pleased and embarrassed. He was received by Mrs. Bennet with a degree of civility, which made her two daughters ashamed, especially when contrasted with the cold and ceremonious politeness of her curtsey and address to his friend.

2. Involving much ceremony; ostentatious, showy.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 286, column 1:

     O, the Sacrifice, / Hovv ceremonious, ſolemne, and vn-earthly / It vvas i'th' Offring?

   • 1805, Robert Southey, “Canto V”, in Madoc, London: or Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A Constable and Co, , by James Ballantyne, , →OCLC, part I (Madoc in Wales), page 222:

     This is the day, when, in a foreign grave, / King Owen 's relics shall be laid to rest. / / No mitred abbots, and no tonsured train, / Lengthened the pomp of ceremonious woe.

   • 1855 October–December, Herman Melville, “Benito Cereno”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 187:

     He descended to the cabin to bid a ceremonious, and, it may be, tacitly rebukeful adieu.

3. Of a person: fond of ceremony or ritual, or of observing strict etiquette or formality; punctilious.

   Synonym: (obsolete) ceremonial

   Antonyms: (obsolete, rare) inceremonious, unceremonious

   • 1608, Thomas Dekker, “To the Very Worthy Gentleman, Mr Francis Mustian, of Peckham”, in Lanthorne and Candle-light. Or The Bell-mans Second Nights Walke. , London: ">…] for Iohn Busbie, , →OCLC, signature A2, recto:

     ome VVriters do almoſt nothing contrary to yͤ cuſtome, and ſome by vertue of that Priuiledge, dare doe any thing. I am neither of that firſt order, nor of this laſt. The one is too fondly-ceremonious, the other too impudently audacious. I vvalke in the midſt (ſo vvell as I can) betvveene both.

   • 1624, Democritus Junior , “An Heape of Other Accidents Causing Melancholy. Death of Friends, Losses, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 7, page 148:

     His onely delight is building, he ſpends himſelfe to get curious intricate models and plots, another is vvholly ceremonious about titles, degrees, inſcriptions.

   • 1958, C S Lewis, “The Cursings”, in Reflections on the Psalms, London: Geoffrey Bles, →OCLC, page 23:

     Ancient and oriental cultures are in many ways more conventional, more ceremonious, and more courteous than our own.

4. Synonym of ceremonial (“of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony or rite”); formal, ritual.
   • 1555, Richard Eden, “Rycharde Eden to the Reader”, in Peter Martyr of Angleria , translated by Rycharde Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, , London: Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC:

     They may alſo theſiyer bee allured to the Chriſtian fayth, for that it is more agreable to the lawe of nature then eyther the cerimonious lawe of Moiſes, or portentous fables of Mahometes Alcharon.

   • 1634, T H, “Mohelia, Its Description”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, , London: William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 34:

     The other Princes vvere reſerued to a more opportune maſſacre, vntil Sultan Currovvn had entred Agra, and receiued the Imperial Crovvne and Scepter, vvith other Ceremonious rites due to the Coronation, of the Great Moguls.