different between decorous vs ceremonious

English

Etymology

From Latin dec?rus (“seemly, becoming”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?k???s/

Adjective

decorous (comparative more decorous, superlative most decorous)

1. Marked by proper behavior.
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter V, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 3rd edition, London: J. Jonson, published 1796, section III, pages 219–220:

     The narrow path of truth and virtue inclines neither to the right nor left—it is a ?traightforward bu?ine?s, and they who are earne?tly pur?uing their road, may bound over many decorous prejudices, without leaving mode?ty behind.

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 61,^[1]

     There came a day when the round of decorous pleasures and solemn gaieties in which Mr. Jos Sedley’s family indulged was interrupted by an event which happens in most houses.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 43

     But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.

   • 1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, Part One, Chapter 1^[2]

     The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.

Antonyms

• indecorous

Related terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French cérémonieux, from Late Latin caerimoniosus, from Latin caerimonia.

Adjective

ceremonious (comparative more ceremonious, superlative most ceremonious)

1. Fond of ceremony, ritual or strict etiquette; punctilious
   • 1608, Thomas Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle-Light in The Guls Hornbook and The Belman of London, J.M. Dent, 1936, p. 163, [1]

     […] some Writers do almost nothing contrary to the custome, and some by vertue of that Priviledge, dare doe any thing. I am neither of that first order, nor of this last. The one is too fondly-ceremonious, the other too impudently audacious.

   • 1958, C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1986, Chapter III, p. 23,

     Ancient and oriental cultures are in many ways more conventional, more ceremonious, and more courteous than our own.

2. Characterized by ceremony or rigid formality

   • O, the sacrifice! / How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly / It was i' the offering!

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 17, [2]

     Captain Vere advanced to meet him, […] and interrupting the other's wonted ceremonious salutation, said, "Nay, tell me how it is with yonder man," […]

Derived terms

• ceremoniously
• ceremoniousness
• unceremonious