solemnize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
solemnizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
solemnized,
past participle, past
-
solemnizing
present participle
-
to perform the ceremony of (marriage).
-
to hold or perform (ceremonies, rites, etc.) in due manner.
-
to observe or commemorate with rites or ceremonies.
to solemnize an occasion with prayer.
-
to go through with ceremony or formality.
-
to render solemn, serious, or grave; dignify.
verb (used without object)
-
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
-
to celebrate or perform the ceremony of (marriage)
-
to make solemn or serious
-
to perform or hold (ceremonies, etc) in due manner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
solemnizesimple
-
solemnizessimple
-
have solemnizedperfect
-
has solemnizedperfect
-
am solemnizingprogressive
-
are solemnizingprogressive
-
is solemnizingprogressive
-
have been solemnizingperfect progressive
-
has been solemnizingperfect progressive
Past
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Hard Times
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
As You Like It
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
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
Judge Lohier was given a one-day designation by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to solemnize the marriage.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2021
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
Questions about how to solemnize Constitution Day sometimes prove far more interesting than Constitution Day itself.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2014
For upon hearing the news of his death, the bishops, abbats, and all the clergy of that province, had met together at Winchester, to solemnize his funeral.
From Old English Chronicles by Various
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
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
A something in a summer's day, As slow her flambeaux burn away, Which solemnizes me.
From Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete by Emily Dickinson
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
They lured religious leaders out of their homes by pretending to need a marriage solemnized.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2023
The couple’s Nov. 29 marriage took place at the clerk’s office of the County of Nevada in Nevada City, Calif. Carrie McReynolds, the deputy commissioner of marriages, solemnized their license.
From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2021
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
Friends, Readers, let your hearts apply the lesson of this day, and let your hearts be cheered and solemnized by its associations.
From The Hearth-Stone Thoughts upon Home-Life in Our Cities by Samuel Osgood
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
The various religious denominations throughout the country are invited to meet in their respective places of worship at that hour for the purpose of solemnizing the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.
From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 6, part 1: Abraham Lincoln by James D. (James Daniel) Richardson
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
