procession
Americannoun
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the act of moving along or proceeding in orderly succession or in a formal and ceremonious manner, as a line of people, animals, vehicles, etc.
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the line or body of persons or things moving along in such a manner.
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Ecclesiastical. an office, litany, etc., said or sung in a religious procession.
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Theology. the emanation of the Holy Spirit from the Father and later, in the Western Church, from the Son: distinguished from the “generation” of the Son and the “unbegottenness” of the Father.
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the act of coming forth from a source.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the act of proceeding in a regular formation
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a group of people or things moving forwards in an orderly, regular, or ceremonial manner
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a hymn, litany, etc, sung in a procession
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Christianity the emanation of the Holy Spirit
verb
Usage
What does procession mean? A procession is a line of people or vehicles moving along in an orderly and often ceremonial way. A very common example is a funeral procession, which is the line of cars or people traveling together to a burial. A parade is another kind of procession. Procession is the noun form of the verb process, meaning to proceed in or as if in a procession. Example: The procession was so long that they had to block traffic so it could stay together.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of procession
before 1150; early Middle English (< Old French ) < Late Latin prōcessiōn- (stem of prōcessiō ) a religious procession, literally, a marching on. See process, -ion
Explanation
A procession of mimes walking through the streets of your town would be surprising and somewhat terrifying. A line or group of people moving together in a deliberate way is a procession. You're most likely to see a procession during some kind of ceremony, parade, or festival. A line of cars moving together to a cemetery is a funeral procession, and a bunch of parents pushing babies in strollers in a parade are also a procession. Another meaning of procession is any line or succession of people moving continuously, like a procession of local politicians knocking on your door one afternoon. The root of procession is the Latin processio, "marching forward."
Vocabulary lists containing procession
Power Prefix: pro
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"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It takes over an hour for the whole procession to pass any one spot on the mountain, and they’re all but guaranteed to watch greats such as four-time champion Tadej Pogacar in full flow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
A celebration of life service and procession has been announced in Swansea following the death of Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The procession coincided with the annual commemoration of Imam Hussein, the mourning month of Muharram, the holiest period of the year in Shia Islam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Crowds thronged the streets of Najaf on Wednesday as the coffin of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei moved through the holy city in a procession devoted to Iraq, home to Shia Islam's most sacred shrines.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
The procession rolled slowly, the beat of the march measured by drums wrapped in crepe.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Iran has begun several days of public mourning and funeral processions for its former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, more than four months after he was killed in strikes launched by the US and Israel.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
“You’d have tens of thousands of people and sheikhs in the streets, all roads closed to cars, processions all over the city, food being served. That’s why they called it ‘The City of Hussein.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Though it stretched for more than two centuries, it’s an era best known for Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, stiff ruffs and courtly processions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Bangladeshi newspapers, quoting a senior party leader in hiding, reported at least 20 flash processions in the past month.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2025
Some of the processions were accompanied by music and dancing, for in the midst of the sorrow there was happiness that the death had taken place in Varanasi.
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
