solemnizing

verb

present participle of solemnize
as in honoring
formal to mark (something) officially or formally especially with a religious ceremony The priest solemnized their marriage.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for solemnizing
  1. honoring
  2. consecrating
  3. celebrating
  4. blessing
  5. praising
  6. sanctifying
  7. commemorating
Verb
  • Measuring more than 10 feet by 9 feet, Amwan Agwe… (2026), for example, depicts green hills and blue waves alongside the skulls, candles, and fish that nod to Fèt Gede, Haiti’s annual festival honoring the spirits of the dead.
    — Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 14 Oct. 2026
  • That’s where the hotel is hosting an exhibit honoring the film with drawings, paintings, sculptures and behind-the-scenes footage that document how Radiator Springs Racers was brought to life.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of honoring
Verb
  • But yesterday, the group defied Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his approval.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 2 July 2026
  • Under the church’s in-house canon law, consecrating a bishop without papal consent incurs an automatic excommunication for both the people administering the consecration and the bishops receiving it.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 1 July 2026
Definition of consecrating
Verb
  • The Shangri-La Paris played host to an evening of conversations, cocktails and dinner celebrating the launch.
    — Vogue Business, Vogue, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Dozens of family and friends gathered outside Wildwood Elementary School in Culver City on Saturday for a memorial celebrating Rodriguez.
    — Breaking News, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of celebrating
Verb
  • Jesse sent a video from Thanksgiving, with Rosemarie blessing her and her family.
    — Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026
  • By visiting the Basilica and blessing the new tower, the pope follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI who in 2010 consecrated the Sagrada Familia.
    — Christopher Lamb, CNN Money, 10 June 2026
Definition of blessing
Verb
  • The mayor of the town housing the Renoir Museum, Bryan Masson, issued a statement praising investigators who tracked down the paintings and suspects.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026
  • The one-minute television spot includes Poindexter’s daughters praising their father for his work ethic and dedication to their family.
    — Lauren Green, The Washington Examiner, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of praising
Verb
  • To say that the Union was sacred and the touchstone of democracy was to strengthen slavery by sanctifying the state that protected it.
    — Dominic Erdozain, Time, 3 July 2026
  • But far from celebrating or sanctifying the throwing off of English rule, the story’s shocking ending portrays the patriots as a fiendish mob, and casts doubt on the bedrock American faith in prosperity.
    — John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026
Definition of sanctifying
Verb
  • In 2021, then-Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador requested that the headdress be loaned to Mexico for an exhibition commemorating 500 years since the fall of the city of Tenochtitlan.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The congregation shared poems commemorating survivors and victims alike, sang the Hatikva — Israel’s national anthem — and watched videos of first-hand accounts.
    — Jim Masters, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of commemorating
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

solemnizes
solemnizing
solemnness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Solemnizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/solemnizing. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All