solemnize

American  

[sol-uhm-nahyz] / ˈsɒl əmˌnaɪz /

especially British, solemnise

verb (used with object)

solemnized, solemnizing

1. to perform the ceremony of (marriage).

2. to hold or perform (ceremonies, rites, etc.) in due manner.

3. to observe or commemorate with rites or ceremonies.

   to solemnize an occasion with prayer.

4. to go through with ceremony or formality.

5. to render solemn, serious, or grave; dignify.

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verb (used without object)

solemnized, solemnizing

1. to become solemn; conduct oneself with solemnity.

solemnize British  

/ ˈsɒləmˌnaɪz /

verb

1. to celebrate or observe with rites or formal ceremonies, as a religious occasion

2. to celebrate or perform the ceremony of (marriage)

3. to make solemn or serious

4. to perform or hold (ceremonies, etc) in due manner

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Other Word Forms

• solemnization noun
• solemnizer noun
• unsolemnized adjective

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."

Example Sentences

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

North Carolina has attempted to accommodate officials like Davis, allowing some register of deeds workers who assemble marriage licenses and magistrates who solemnize civil marriages to recuse themselves.

From Washington Times • Sep. 13, 2015

It may have been an informal wedlock; as perhaps no one could be found in the colony who would have dared solemnize or record such a marriage.

From Memoirs of Mrs. Rebecca Steward by Steward, T. G. (Theophilus Gould)