- present participle of wed.
wedding
Americannoun
-
weddings
plural
-
the anniversary of a marriage, or its celebration.
They invited guests to their silver wedding.
-
the act or an instance of blending or joining, especially opposite or contrasting elements.
a perfect wedding of conservatism and liberalism.
-
Business Slang. a merger.
adjective
noun
-
-
the act of marrying or the celebration of a marriage
-
( as modifier )
wedding day
-
-
the anniversary of a marriage (in such combinations as silver wedding or diamond wedding )
-
the combination or blending of two separate elements
Synonym Usage
See marriage.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wedding
First recorded before 900; Middle English “matrimony, wedlock, marriage,” Old English weddung “betrothal”; see origin at wed, -ing 1
Explanation
A wedding is a celebration or ceremony of marriage. Besides being a formal way to mark the union of two people, weddings can be a lot of fun too. The earliest meaning of wedding was simply "the state of being married," but by the early 1400s it meant the ceremony or rite at the very beginning of a marriage. A wedding can be a simple civil ceremony at City Hall or an elaborate event that takes place over several days and involves religious rituals, food and drink, and hundreds of guests. As an adjective, wedding describes anything related to the ceremony, like wedding cakes and wedding dresses.
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:
But the debt for the vacation, the wedding, the furniture in the basement, the boat — all of that costs you twice.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Flatley shared photos from one of his wife’s performances, from their wedding and a family photo with their son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Both were broke, and she told the Charlotte Observer she had to borrow a wedding gown when they married in 1988.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The firm focused on making jewelry for everyday wear—often at price points below $300—rather than big-ticket wedding and anniversary gifts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
For music, the entire chorus of The Nutcracker began to hum the wedding march.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Bouquets of banknotes or cakes decorated with currency are often ordered as gifts for weddings, birthdays, graduations and other celebrations.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Through the then-recently established Bradford Heritage Recording Unit, he began photographing the city's South Asian communities at work, at religious gatherings, at weddings and in their social lives.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
It is a season in which a lot of energy is flowing out: two family weddings back-to-back, seven family birthdays between August and November, the usual work, a cookbook project, a documentary.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
“Now it’s become an expectation that you’re going to have multiple events,” Shatz said of weddings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
This is generally why Iranian weddings are so big.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
