different between pompous vs ceremonious

English

Etymology

From Middle English pompous, from Old French pompeux, from Late Latin pomposus, from Latin pompa (“pomp”), from Ancient Greek ????? (pomp?, “a sending, a solemn procession, pomp”), from ????? (pémp?, “I send”). Doublet of pomposo.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?mp?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?mp?s/

Adjective

pompous (comparative more pompous, superlative most pompous)

1. Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
   • 1848, Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair, Bantam Classics (1997), 16:

     "Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it was intolerably dull, pompous, and tedious; and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes, Miss Samuel did not venture, in her presence, to give way to any ebullitions of private grief."

Synonyms

• conceited
• smug
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• self-effacing

Related terms

• pomp
• pomposity
• pompously

Translations

Further reading

• pompous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pompous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• pompous at OneLook Dictionary Search

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