solemnize
Americanverb (used with object)
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solemnizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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solemnized,
past participle, past
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solemnizing
present participle
-
to perform the ceremony of (marriage).
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to hold or perform (ceremonies, rites, etc.) in due manner.
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to observe or commemorate with rites or ceremonies.
to solemnize an occasion with prayer.
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to go through with ceremony or formality.
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to render solemn, serious, or grave; dignify.
verb (used without object)
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solemnizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
solemnized,
past participle, past
-
solemnizing
present participle
verb
-
to celebrate or observe with rites or formal ceremonies, as a religious occasion
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to celebrate or perform the ceremony of (marriage)
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to make solemn or serious
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to perform or hold (ceremonies, etc) in due manner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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solemnizesimple
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solemnizessimple
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have solemnizedperfect
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has solemnizedperfect
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am solemnizingprogressive
-
are solemnizingprogressive
-
is solemnizingprogressive
-
have been solemnizingperfect progressive
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has been solemnizingperfect progressive
Past
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solemnizedsimple
-
had solemnizedperfect
-
was solemnizingprogressive
-
were solemnizingprogressive
-
had been solemnizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of solemnize
1350–1400; Middle English solempnise < Medieval Latin sōlemnizāre, equivalent to Latin sōlemnis solemn + -izāre -ize
Explanation
When you solemnize something, you make it serious or dignified. You might solemnize a meal by lighting candles and saying grace before you eat. How much fun is it to get to pronounce a letter that is normally silent? You'll know when you wrap your tongue around this one, in which the n, normally silent in solemn, gets to introduce the suffix -ize. Even more fun is the fact that solemnize has a Greek suffix tacked onto a Latin root, sollemnis, or "formal, ceremonial, traditional." But we shouldn't be having so much fun with a verb whose meaning is "perform with dignity or gravity."
Vocabulary lists containing solemnize
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton
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Hard Times
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As You Like It
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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:
There’s the subgenre focusing on Electoral College math and the architecture of the rites that solemnize the delivery of results.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2024
Nine years later, when the United Kingdom allowed same-sex couples to solemnize their marriages in religious ceremonies, Ortega-Medina and his husband married in a Jewish ceremony at West London Synagogue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2023
Jennifer Elysia Holland and Steven Gilman Dannenberg were married Nov. 3 in Bolton, Vt. Nina Pascal Butler, who received permission from Vermont to solemnize the marriage, officiated at the Ponds at Bolton, an events space.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2018
The wording he proposed would make clear that the government cannot force a clergy member to solemnize any marriage in violation of the clergy person’s religious beliefs.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 31, 2015
Something must be forgiven to the light-heartedness of youth, which shows itself in scenes that would sadden and solemnize the unseasoned visitor.
From Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes by E. E. Brown
This is followed by an audience participation segment, in which Edna solemnizes the marriage between two perfect strangers, one of whom happened to be already married.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2015
It solemnizes and legitimizes and dignifies those who have departed into the squalid indignity of death, departed in a way so inhuman that humanity wants to pile on posthumous kindnesses, posthumous significances.
From Time Magazine Archive
A something in a summer's day, As sIow her flambeaux burn away, Which solemnizes me.
From Poems by Emily Dickinson, Series One by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Therefore during the five weeks which the Church solemnizes on account of Christ's Resurrection, and on Sundays which commemorate the Resurrection, fasts ought to be appointed.
From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Saint Thomas Aquinas
If they are published in two different parishes the clergyman of one parish must give a certificate of publication, which must be delivered to the clergyman who solemnizes the marriage.
From Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World by Hyacinthe Ringrose
They lured religious leaders out of their homes by pretending to need a marriage solemnized.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2023
Their union and all others that took place at Honeymoon Rock Fest were solemnized by Jeff Yenzer, a Universal Life minister who watched from offstage.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
A grand boldness solemnized Mälkki’s performances of Russian scores by Tchaikovsky and Scriabin with the L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2021
“It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
From Fox News ● Jul. 4, 2020
The betrothal was solemnized on May 8th, which happened to be the Feast of the Ascension.
From Henrietta Maria by Henrietta Haynes
The Scottish Episcopal Church opened the door to solemnizing same-sex marriages in 2017, the Church of Scotland last May.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2023
Despite facing an outstanding arrest warrant for solemnizing Arzoo’s marriage, he continued his practice in his ramshackle office above a wholesale rice market in downtown Karachi.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 28, 2020
“I would really love the opportunity to participate in solemnizing Congress,” Barker said in an interview.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2016
But man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal luster, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of nature.
From The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I by Francis W. (Francis Whiting) Halsey
But on all sides, lamentations afresh broke forth, upon the appearance of a person who had been called in to assist in solemnizing the obsequies, and also to console the afflicted.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Herman Melville
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