CEREMONIAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ceremonial mean? 

• CEREMONIAL (noun)
  The noun CEREMONIAL has 1 sense:

1. a formal event performed on a special occasion

  Familiarity information: CEREMONIAL used as a noun is very rare.

• CEREMONIAL (adjective)
  The adjective CEREMONIAL has 1 sense:

1. marked by pomp or ceremony or formality

  Familiarity information: CEREMONIAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CEREMONIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A formal event performed on a special occasion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

ceremonial; ceremonial occasion; ceremony; observance

Context example:

a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor

Hypernyms ("ceremonial" is a kind of...):

affair; function; occasion; social function; social occasion (a vaguely specified social event)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ceremonial"):

circumstance (formal ceremony about important occasions)

funeral; obsequy (a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated)

hymeneals; nuptials; wedding; wedding ceremony (the social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed)

pageant; pageantry (a rich and spectacular ceremony)

dedication (a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose)

opening (a ceremony accompanying the start of some enterprise)

commemoration; memorialisation; memorialization (a ceremony to honor the memory of someone or something)

military ceremony (a formal ceremony performed by military personnel)

induction; initiation; installation (a formal entry into an organization or position or office)

exercise ((usually plural) a ceremony that involves processions and speeches)

fire walking (the ceremony of walking barefoot over hot stones or a bed of embers)

formalities; formality (a requirement of etiquette or custom)

Maundy (a public ceremony on Maundy Thursday when the monarch distributes Maundy money)

potlatch (a ceremonial feast held by some Indians of the northwestern coast of North America (as in celebrating a marriage or a new accession) in which the host gives gifts to tribesmen and others to display his superior wealth (sometimes, formerly, to his own impoverishment))

Derivation:

ceremonial (marked by pomp or ceremony or formality)

• CEREMONIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by pomp or ceremony or formality

Context example:

ceremonial garb

Similar:

formal (being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress))

Derivation:

ceremonial (a formal event performed on a special occasion)

ceremony (any activity that is performed in an especially solemn elaborate or formal way)

ceremony (the proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion)

ceremony (a formal event performed on a special occasion)

 Context examples 

The 60,000 newly discovered structures include raised highways, urban centers with sidewalks, homes, terraces, industrial-sized agricultural fields, irrigation canals, ceremonial centers, a 30-meter high pyramid, fortresses and moats.

(Hidden Mayan Civilization Revealed in Guatemala Jungle, VOA)

It had been peaceful in its occurrence, sacred in its ceremonial.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Collapse of the Maya civilization that occurred between 800 and 900 A.D.. Symptoms of the collapse included abandonment of the countryside and ceremonial centers as well as a cessation of cultural activities.

(Classic Collapse, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The Thorpes and James Morland were there only two minutes before them; and Isabella having gone through the usual ceremonial of meeting her friend with the most smiling and affectionate haste, of admiring the set of her gown, and envying the curl of her hair, they followed their chaperones, arm in arm, into the ballroom, whispering to each other whenever a thought occurred, and supplying the place of many ideas by a squeeze of the hand or a smile of affection.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)