different between ceremony vs sacrament

English

Alternative forms

• cæremony, cærimony (both archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English cerymonye, from Latin caerimonia or caeremonia, later often cerimonia (“sacredness, reverence, a sacred rite”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s???m?ni/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s???mo?ni/
• Hyphenation: cer?e?mo?ny

Noun

ceremony (plural ceremonies)

1. A ritual, with religious or cultural significance.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book Six, Canto 8, pp. 463-464,^[1]

     To whom the Priest with naked armes full net

     Approching nigh, and murdrous knife well whet,

     Gan mutter close a certaine secret charme,

     With other diuelish ceremonies met:

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Numbers 9:3,^[2]

     In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep [the passover] in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.

   • 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, London: Macmillan, Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 1,^[3]

     Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

2. An official gathering to celebrate, commemorate, or otherwise mark some event.

   a graduation ceremony, an opening ceremony

3. (uncountable) A formal socially established behaviour, often in relation to people of different ranks; formality.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 4,^[4]

     […] to feed were best at home;

     From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;

     Meeting were bare without it.

   • 1928, W. Somerset Maugham, “Miss King” in Ashenden, New York: Avon, 1943, p. 37,^[5]

     Monsieur Bridet, notwithstanding his costume and his evident harrassment, found in himself the presence of mind to remain the attentive manager, and with ceremony effected the proper introduction.

   • 1959, C. S. Forester, Hunting the Bismarck, London: Michael Joseph,^[6]

     They went into the bars and interrupted the drinking, hustling the men out without ceremony.

4. (uncountable) Show of magnificence, display, ostentation.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 752-756,^[7]

     Meanwhile the winged Heralds, by command

     Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony

     And trumpet’s sound, throughout the host proclaim

     A solemn council forthwith to be held

     At Pandemonium […]

   • 1829, Washington Irving, A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, Volume II, Chapter 46, p. 254,^[8]

     Immediately after her arrival, the queen rode forth to survey the camp and its environs: wherever she went, she was attended by a splendid retinue; and all the commanders vied with each other, in the pomp and ceremony with which they received her.

5. (obsolete) An accessory or object associated with a ritual.
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV, Scene 1,^[9]

     […] his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man […]

   • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II, Scene 2,^[10]

     […] Well, believe this,

     No ceremony that to great ones ’longs,

     Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,

     The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,

     Become them with one half so good a grace

     As mercy does.

6. (obsolete) An omen or portent.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1,^[11]

     For he is superstitious grown of late,

     Quite from the main opinion he held once

     Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2,^[12]

     Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,

     Yet now they fright me.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• ceremony in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• ceremony at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “ceremony”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• ceremony in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Middle English

Noun

ceremony

1. Alternative form of cerymonye

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French sacrement, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacr?mentum (“sacrament”), from Latin sacr? (“hallow, consecrate”), from sacer (“sacred, holy”), originally sum deposited by parties to a suit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sæk??m?nt/

Noun

sacrament (plural sacraments)

1. (Christianity) A sacred act or ceremony in Christianity. In Catholic theology, a sacrament is defined as "an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace."
2. (in particular) The Eucharist.
3. The consecrated Eucharist (especially the bread).
4. A thing which is regarded as possessing a sacred character or mysterious significance.
   • 1651, Jeremy Taylor, Twenty-sermons for the winter half-year, "The Faith and Patience of the Saints"

     God sometimes sent a light of fire, and pillar of a cloud […] and the sacrament of a rainbow, to guide his people through their portion of sorrows.

5. The oath of allegiance taken by soldiers in Ancient Rome; hence, any sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath.

Translations

Verb

sacrament (third-person singular simple present sacraments, present participle sacramenting, simple past and past participle sacramented)

1. (transitive) To bind by an oath.

See also

• Catholic and Eastern churches have seven sacraments: baptism; confirmation; communion, Mass, or Eucharist; penance; extreme unction (Anointing of the Sick, last rites); holy orders / ordination; and matrimony.
• Protestant churches list two sacraments: baptism and Lord's Supper.
• Eucharistic liturgy
• Holy Eucharist
• Holy Sacrament
• Liturgy
• Lord's Supper
• sacrament on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

From Old French sacrament, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacr?mentum (“sacrament”), from Latin sacr? (“hallow, consecrate”), from sacer (“sacred, holy”), originally sum deposited by parties to a suit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sa?.kra??m?nt/
• Hyphenation: sa?cra?ment
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

sacrament n (plural sacramenten)

1. (Christianity) sacrament

Derived terms

• laatste sacramenten
• sacramenteel
• sacramentsaltaar
• Sacramentsdag

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: sakramen

Romanian

Etymology

From French sacrement, from Latin sacramentum.

Noun

sacrament n (plural sacramente)

1. sacrament

Declension