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”))^[1] + -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), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature B2, verso:

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

   • 1759 March 31, [Samuel Johnson], “The Idler. No. 51.”, in The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette, volume II, number 52, London: […] R. Stevens, […], →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, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], 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: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A[rchibald] 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 [Owain Gwynedd]'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: […] [George Eld] for Iohn Busbie, […], →OCLC, signature A2, recto:

     [S]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 [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “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[live] S[taples] 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 [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], translated by Rycharde Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC:

     They [gentiles] may alſo theſiyer [the easier] 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[homas] H[erbert], “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.