ceremonious
ce·re/ˌsɛ.ɹəˈmoʊ.ni.əs/adjective
ceremonious is spelled C-E-R-E-M-O-N-I-O-U-S, 2 syllables: ce·re. The wrong spelling people search most is cerimonious: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Ceremonious is an adjective meaning “According to the required or usual ceremonies, formalities, or rituals; specifically (Christianity…”.
How many letters and syllables are in ceremonious?
| Letters | 11: C-E-R-E-M-O-N-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: ce·re |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 122,704th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cerimonious, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell ceremonious?
Ceremonious is spelled C-E-R-E-M-O-N-I-O-U-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for ceremonious in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is ceremonious?
Ceremonious appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 122,704th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ceremonious?
- UK /sɛ.ɹɪˈməʊ.nɪ.əs/
- US /ˌsɛ.ɹəˈmoʊ.ni.əs/
Ceremonious has 2 syllables, split ce·re in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ceremonious.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ceremonious?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ceremonious from its last stressed vowel (/oʊniəs/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ceremonious
- more ceremonious comparative
- most ceremonious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ceremonious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
According to the required or usual ceremonies, formalities, or rituals; specifically (Christianity, obsolete), to ceremonial laws in the Bible.
- 2
Involving much ceremony; ostentatious, showy.
- 3
Of a person: fond of ceremony or ritual, or of observing strict etiquette or formality; punctilious.
- 4
Synonym of ceremonial (“of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony or rite”); formal, ritual.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ceremonious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense according to the required or usual ceremonies, formalities, or rituals:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cérémonieux, solennel |
| German | feierlich |
| Spanish | ceremonioso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ceremonious come from?
Learned borrowing from Middle French cérémonieux (modern French cérémonieux) or directly from its etymon Latin caerimōniōsus + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Caerimōniōsus is derived from Latin caerimōnia (“awe, reverence, veneration; sacredness, sanctity; religious ceremony, ritual”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to build, make; to do”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly’ forming adjectives from nouns). By surface analysis, ceremony + -ous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).