ceremonial

adjective

1. 1

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

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

   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.

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

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

2. 2

   Used only for the purpose of ceremony; symbolic.

3. 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, […]

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

noun

1. 1

   A ceremony, or series of ceremonies, prescribed by ritual.

   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.’

   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.

   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.

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

Forms

plural

ceremonials

comparative

more ceremonial

superlative

most ceremonial