ceremonial

comparative more ceremonial · superlative most ceremonial · alternative cæremonial

1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony.

   Philomena Guinea's black Cadillac eased through the tight, five o'clock traffic like a ceremonial car.

   1963, Sylvia Plath, chapter 15, in The Bell Jar, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published 1972, page 151

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   What mockery will it be / To want the bridegroom when the priest attends / To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage!

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   His merit introduced him to ſplendid tables and elegant acquaintance, but he did not find himſelf alvvays qualified to join in the converſation. He vvas diſtreſſed by civilities, vvhich he knevv not hovv to repay, and entangled in many ceremonial perplexities, from vvhich his books and diagrams could not extricate him.

   1751 December 13 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 179. Monday, December 3. 1751.”, in The Rambler, volume VII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1752, →OCLC, page 53

   [T]his change in ceremonial observances and outward show was trifling when compared to that in the objects of worship […]

   1827, Henry Hallam, chapter II, in The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC

   “You must swear it. By Adamcos,” said Catweazle, drawing his ceremonial knife. “Crumbs! What's that?” asked Carrot, very taken with the knife.

   1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 28

   Synonyms: ceremonious, formal, ritual, ritualistic

2. Used only for the purpose of ceremony; symbolic.

   Synonyms: nominal

3. obsoleteSynonym of ceremonious (“of a person: fond of ceremony or ritual, or of observing strict etiquette or formality; punctilious”).

   Oh monstrous, superstitious puritan, / Of refin’d manners, yet ceremoniall man, […]

   c. 1593–1597, J[ohn] Donne, “Satyre I”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 326

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   [W]ith dumb Pride, and a set formal Face, / He moves, in the dull Ceremonial track, […]

   1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 193, lines 56-57

   Synonyms: ceremonious

plural ceremonials · alternative cæremonial

1. countableuncountableA ceremony, or series of ceremonies, prescribed by ritual.

   I have been in favour of ceremonial and patterns all my life, and I have no desire to break the funeral pattern.

   1972, Robertson Davies, chapter 5, in The Manticore, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, published 2015

   3 more examples

   Curt’sies, and the usual Ceremonials between Women who are Strangers to each other being past, Sophia said, ‘I have not the Pleasure to know you, Madam.’

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 6, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVII, page 257

   Public ceremonies, such as ordinations, the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself to the people, were, as a matter of policy, marked by a stately and well-conducted ceremonial, and a sombre, but yet a studied magnificence.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “chapter 5”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC

   There was little ceremonial to mark the opening of the completed railway beyond the fact that a decorated train left Paddington at 8 a.m. on the morning of June 30 a hundred years ago and, passing the beflagged ends of Box tunnel, arrived at Bristol at noon.

   1941 November, “Notes and News: G.W.R. Main-Line Centenary”, in Railway Magazine, page 521