Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💍 To perform wedding 🎖️ To mark formally
to solemnize

to solemnize

1 8.2
To perform a legal wedding ceremony
  • verb
  • /ˈsɑːləmnaɪz/
  • Formal
translation icon : celebrar
  • The court looked not to the religious nature of the invocation but rather to the legitimate secular purpose of solemnizing occasions.
  • solemnize the marriage

Examples

  • And so, by the powers vested in me by the church... I shall solemnize this union.

    Poor Things (2023)

  • That means solemnizing the civil institution of marriage as an agent of the state, not the religious institution of marriage, which the state has no control over, nor should it.

    Blog text (27)

  • I could easily see the state demanding that all those authorized by the state to solemnize marriage be available for all "marriages" as defined by the state.

    Blog text (9)

  • The parties must assent or declare, in the physical presence of the officiant solemnizing the marriage and at least two attending witnesses, that they take each other to be spouses.

    Blog text (10)

  • The Center for Inquiry (CFI) seeks to have their own "celebrants" added to the list of religious and civil officials recognized by the state of Indiana as agents empowered to solemnize marriages.

    Blog text (27)

  • In this swell of amity, the wedding was solemnized in the recreation room with fellow cooks, white and black, attending Luther, and fellow waitresses, also of mixed color, coming down the improvised aisle as bridesmaids.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The couple chose to solemnize their marriage in a beautiful outdoor ceremony surrounded by friends and family.

  • During the ceremony, the officiant will solemnize their vows and declare them married.

  • They decided to solemnize their union at the courthouse to ensure it was legally recognized.

Synonyms

to marry
vsto solemnize
656 1.6

To perform a ceremony to join two people as partners

is carried out with the required formalities and rituals
to wed
vsto solemnize
  • Formal
24 2.8

To marry someone in a ceremony

is focused on conducting the ceremony with proper formalities
to officiate
vsto solemnize
  • Formal
15 6.6

To lead a ceremony, such as a wedding, as a person with authority

is specific to performing marriage ceremonies rather than any ceremony

Antonyms

to dissolve
  • Formal
60 4.1

To officially end an organization, agreement, or relationship

How Formal

to officiate
  • Formal
15 6.6
to solemnize
  • Formal
1 8.2
to marry
∞ 1.0
to bless
  • Formal
624 3.5

Surface Forms

solemnize infinitive
solemnized past
solemnized past participle
solemnizing present participle
solemnizes third person singular

Morphology

solemnize = solemn (transparent) = solemn + ize

Formed by the adjective 'solemn' + verb-forming suffix '-ize', meaning to make or perform with solemnity; the connection is direct and predictable.

Etymology

Solemnize comes from the common word solemn, which comes from the Latin sollemnis meaning 'ceremonial' or 'religious'. So to solemnize a marriage is to make it official by a formal, serious ceremony.