solemnize
English
Alternative forms
- solemnise (UK)
Etymology
From Old French solemnisier, from Medieval Latin solemnizare, from Latin solemnis.
Pronunciation
Audio (UK) (file)
Verb
solemnize (third-person singular simple present solemnizes, present participle solemnizing, simple past and past participle solemnized)
- (transitive, US) To make solemn, or official, through ceremony or legal act.
- The couple chose to solemnize their relationship in a secular ceremony, instead of having a wedding.
- 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, OCLC 931154958, (please specify the page):
- Baptism to be administered in one place, and marriage solemnized in another.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, pages 95–96:
- Thir choice nobility and flower […] Met from all parts to ſolemnize this Feaſt.
- 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, page 138:
- The great mysteries solemnised at Eleusis.
- To make grave, serious, and reverential.
- September 27, 1873, John Campbell Shairp, "Wordsworth's Three Yarrows", in Every Saturday
- Wordsworth was solemnized and elevated by this his first look on Yarrow.
- 1880, Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
- Every Israelite […] arose, solemnized his face, looked towards Jerusalem […] and prayed.
- September 27, 1873, John Campbell Shairp, "Wordsworth's Three Yarrows", in Every Saturday
Anagrams
- lemonizes