Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To celebrate or observe with dignity and gravity: synonym: observe.
  • transitive verb To perform (a marriage, for example) with formal ceremony.
  • transitive verb To make serious or grave.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To perform annually; perform as the year comes round.
  • To honor by ceremonies; celebrate: as, to solemnize the birth of Christ.
  • To perform with ritual ceremonies, or according to legal forms: used especially of marriage.
  • To render solemn; make serious, grave, and reverential: as, to solemnize the mind for the duties of the sanctuary.
  • Also spelled solemnise.
  • noun Solemnization.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To perform with solemn or ritual ceremonies, or according to legal forms.
  • transitive verb To dignify or honor by ceremonies; to celebrate.
  • transitive verb To make grave, serious, and reverential.
  • noun rare Solemnization.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, US To make solemn, or official, through ceremony or legal act.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb perform (the wedding ceremony) with proper ceremonies
  • verb observe or perform with dignity or gravity
  • verb make solemn and grave

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

solemn +‎ -ize

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Examples

  • It is all so grotesque when one remembers how ready they are to 'solemnize' -- save the mark!

    A Man and a Woman Stanley Waterloo 1879

  • For the sake of every citizen, and most of all for the sake of the children, it should "solemnize" marriage, and should do so on the understanding -- clearly expressed -- that those who come to be married intend to be faithful to each other "as long as they both shall live."

    Sex and Common-Sense 1916

  • If those who are religious wish to do so, they can receive a civil union, then "solemnize" their union in a marriage within their religion.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2009

  • He needn't know when the old lady died, but it will kind of solemnize him. "

    He Fell in Love with His Wife Edward Payson Roe 1863

  • In the Diocese of New York, Bishop Mark Sisk said local priests could bless couples who marry elsewhere in a civil ceremony, but could not solemnize the marriages.

    Churches debate: May clergy marry gays? 2011

  • Proposed marriage bills in Albany have stated that no clergyman or minister would be forced to solemnize a same-sex union.

    Marriage Fight Turns to Religion Jacob Gershman 2011

  • In the Diocese of New York, Bishop Mark Sisk said local priests could bless couples who marry elsewhere in a civil ceremony, but could not solemnize the marriages.

    Churches debate: May clergy marry gays? 2011

  • The purpose of the oath and the bible is just to solemnize the occasion and remind the declarant of his obligation to tell the truth.

    Matthew Yglesias » Inauguration Trivia 2009

  • The New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which includes four of the five states with gay marriage, issued a document stating that pastors can choose to solemnize same-sex marriages in individual churches that give their approval.

    Churches debate: May clergy marry gays? 2011

  • The New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which includes four of the five states with gay marriage, issued a document stating that pastors can choose to solemnize same-sex marriages in individual churches that give their approval.

    Churches debate: May clergy marry gays? 2011

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