commemorate

verb com·mem·o·rate \ kə-ˈme-mə-ˌrāt \

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

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Examples: commemorate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of commemorate

commemorated; commemorating

transitive verb

1 : to call to remembrance

St. Andrew is commemorated on November 30.

2 : to mark by some ceremony or observation : observe

commemorate an anniversary

3 : to serve as a memorial of

a plaque that commemorates the battle

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commemorator

play \kə-ˈme-mə-ˌrā-tər\ noun

See commemorate defined for English-language learners

See commemorate defined for kids

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Examples of commemorate in a Sentence

The festival commemorates the town's founding.
The plaque commemorates the battle that took place here 200 years ago.
Each year on this date we commemorate our ancestors with a special ceremony.

Recent Examples of commemorate from the Web

Young is a lifelong English farmer, principally of cattle, who decided to commemorate her experiences with Fat Hat, Wizzie, Black Araminta, the Bishop of Durham, and their many friends and relations on Gloucestershire's Kite’s Nest Farm.

— eve macsweeney, Vogue, "The Secret Life of Cows," 15 June 2018
Standing in the Rose Garden at the beginning of May, President Trump took the lectern to commemorate the National Day of Prayer.

— rachel siegel, Washington Post, "The gripping sermon that got ‘under God’ added to the Pledge of Allegiance on Flag Day," 14 June 2018
The rally, Sheffield told the audience of perhaps 40, was meant both to commemorate the national kickoff of Gun Violence Awareness Month and to recognize Detroit’s own struggle with firearms.

— marc daalder, Detroit Free Press, "'My heart is heavy for Detroit': City rallies against gun violence," 1 June 2018
The most prominent site of this post-68 Germany is, perhaps, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, a vast concrete expression of the urge to commemorate Nazi crimes.

— The Economist, "The legacy of Germany’s student protests in 1968," 31 May 2018
Their friends, their mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, wanted to commemorate the loss in their hearts.

— meg jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Sheboygan County community remembers its Civil War dead 150 years after it erected memorial," 28 May 2018
Khloé Kardashian also took to Instagram to commemorate the father of her children’s special day and show that the whole Kardashian clan doesn’t hate him.

— anna millard, refinery29.com, "Sofia Richie & Scott Disick Celebrated His Birthday — Oh, & They’re Still Together," 27 May 2018
The Associated Press has revisited sites across the former Western Front as the U.S. commemorates fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, and Europe prepares to mark 100 years since the war's end.

— laurent rebours, Houston Chronicle, "AP PHOTOS: Then and now: France's World War I battle-scape," 24 May 2018
That in itself would have been worth commemorating.

— brendan marks, charlotteobserver, "Sherry Pollex, NASCAR's Martin Truex Jr. help ensure fight against cancer endures | Charlotte Observer," 17 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'commemorate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

When you remember something, you are mindful of it. It's appropriate, therefore, that "commemorate" and other related memory-associated words (including "memorable," "memorial," "remember," and "memory" itself) come from the Latin root memor, meaning "mindful." Some distant older relatives are Old English "gemimor" ("well-known"), Greek mermēra ("care"), and Sanskrit "smarati" ("he remembers"). English speakers have been marking the memory of important events with "commemorate" since the late 16th century.

Origin and Etymology of commemorate

Latin commemoratus, past participle of commemorare, from com- + memorare to remind of, from memor mindful — more at memory

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1599

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

commemorate Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of commemorate

keep, observe, celebrate, commemorate mean to notice or honor a day, occasion, or deed. keep stresses the idea of not neglecting or violating.

- kept the Sabbath by refraining from work

observe suggests marking the occasion by ceremonious performance.

- not all holidays are observed nationally

celebrate suggests acknowledging an occasion by festivity.

- traditionally celebrates Thanksgiving with a huge dinner

commemorate suggests that an occasion is marked by observances that remind one of the origin and significance of the event.

- commemorate Memorial Day with the laying of wreaths

COMMEMORATE Defined for English Language Learners

commemorate

verb

Definition of commemorate for English Language Learners

: to exist or be done in order to remind people of (an important event or person from the past)
: to do something special in order to remember and honor (an important event or person from the past)