Solemnity
[sə'lemnɪtɪ] or [sə'lɛmnəti]
Definition
(n.) A rite or ceremony performed with religious reverence; religious or ritual ceremony; as, the solemnity of a funeral, a sacrament.
(n.) ceremony adapted to impress with awe.
(n.) Ceremoniousness; impressiveness; seriousness; grave earnestness; formal dignity; gravity.
(n.) Hence, affected gravity or seriousness.
(n.) Solemn state or feeling; awe or reverence; also, that which produces such a feeling; as, the solemnity of an audience; the solemnity of Westminster Abbey.
(n.) A solemn or formal observance; proceeding according to due form; the formality which is necessary to render a thing done valid.
Checker: Paulette
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Rite (religious), ceremonial, observance, ceremony.[2]. Awfulness, sacredness.[3]. Seriousness, gravity.
Editor: Mamie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Celebration, rite, office, ceremony, function, pomp, parade, seriousness,pomposity, gravity, sacredness, awe, sanctity, impressiveness, imposingness
ANT:Noncelebration, secularity, simplicity, triviality, gaiety, profanity,desecration, unimpressiveness, meanness, tawdriness, vulgarity, unimposingness
Editor: Luke
Examples
- Helena, remarked Maurice, with mock solemnity, taking her hands, look at me carefully. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Mr. Farebrother seemed to wait for a recognition of the fact; and the emotion perceptible in the tones of his fine voice gave solemnity to his words. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He then said with much solemnity: 'One thing more I have to do, before this separation is complete, and that is to perform an act of justice. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Billy's face was wide and grinning, but there was a great solemnity of being good in his round blue eyes. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Miss Lavvy replied with solemnity, 'No, dearest George, I am but too well aware that I am merely human. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I must entreat Miss _Julia_ Bertram, said he, not to engage in the part of Agatha, or it will be the ruin of all my solemnity. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- At seven o'clock, the four members ascended to the clubroom, tied their badges round their heads, and took their seats with great solemnity. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Pardon me,' returned Mrs Wilfer, with dreadful solemnity, 'but I had not finished. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Mr. Bumble, catching at the inquiry very quickly, shook his head with portentous solemnity. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Dining with the van der Luydens was at best no light matter, and dining there with a Duke who was their cousin was almost a religious solemnity. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- O, with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, Behold! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Selden looked at her with solemnity. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- I can't wear my solemnity too often, else it will go to rags. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- How poor, and cheap, and trivial these gew-gaws seemed in presence of the solemnity, the grandeur, the awful majesty of Death! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- This faith gives a solemnity to his reveries that render them to me almost as imposing and interesting as truth. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The Church gave her full solemnities, graced with all the splendour which she of Rome knows how to apply with such brilliant effect. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Edited by Joanne