Adjacent Words

Solemn definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SOLEMN, a. sol'em. [L. solennis, form soleo, to be accustomed, to use, that is, to hold on or continue, as we have wont.]
1. Anniversary; observed once a year with religious ceremonies. The worship of this image was advanced and a solemn supplication observed every year. [I doubt the correctness of this definition of Johnson; or whether solemn, in out language, ever includes the sense of anniversary. In the passage cited, the sense of anniversary is expressed by every year, and if it is included in solemn also the sentence is tautological. I should say the, that solemn in this passage of Stillingfleet, has the sense given in the second definition below.]
2. Religiously grave; marked with pomp and sanctity; attended with religious rites. His holy rites and solemn feasts profan'd.
3. Religiosly serious; piously grave; devout; marked by reverence to God; as solemn prayer; the solemn duties of the sanctuary.
4. Affectiong with seriousness; impressing or adapted to impress seriousness, gravity or reverence; sober; serious. There reign'd a solemn silence over all. To 'swage with solemn touches troubled thoughts.
5. Grave; serious; or affectedly grave; as a solemn face.
6. Sacred; enjoined by religion; or attended with a serious appeal to God; as a solemn oath.
7. Marked with solemaities; as a solemn day.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises; "a grave God-fearing man"; "a quiet sedate nature"; "as sober as a judge"; "a solemn promise"; "the judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence" [syn: grave, sedate, sober, solemn]
2: characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions; "both sides were deeply in earnest, even passionate"; "an entirely sincere and cruel tyrant"; "a film with a solemn social message" [syn: earnest, sincere, solemn]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English solempne, from Anglo-French, from Latin sollemnis regularly appointed, solemn Date: 14th century 1. marked by the invocation of a religious sanction <a solemn oath> 2. marked by the observance of established form or ceremony; specifically celebrated with full liturgical ceremony 3. a. awe-inspiring ; sublime <solemn beauty> b. marked by grave sedateness and earnest sobriety <a solemn gathering> c. somber, gloomy <a solemn gray building> Synonyms: see serious • solemnly adverb • solemnness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 serious and dignified (a solemn occasion). 2 formal; accompanied by ceremony (a solemn oath). 3 mysteriously impressive. 4 (of a person) serious or cheerless in manner (looks rather solemn). 5 full of importance; weighty (a solemn warning). 6 grave, sober, deliberate; slow in movement or action (a solemn promise; solemn music). Phrases and idioms: solemn mass = high mass (see MASS(2)). Derivatives: solemnly adv. solemness n. Etymology: ME f. OF solemne f. L sol(l)emnis customary, celebrated at a fixed date f. sollus entire

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Solemn Sol"emn, a. [OE. solempne, OF. solempne, L. solemnis, solennis, sollemnis, sollennis; sollus all, entire + annus a year; properly, that takes place every year; -- used especially of religious solemnities. Cf. Silly, Annual.] 1. Marked with religious rites and pomps; enjoined by, or connected with, religion; sacred. His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned. --Milton. The worship of this image was advanced, and a solemn supplication observed everry year. --Bp. Stillingfleet. 2. Pertaining to a festival; festive; festal. [Obs.] ``On this solemn day.'' --Chaucer. 3. Stately; ceremonious; grand. [Archaic] His feast so solemn and so rich. --Chaucer. To-night we hold a splemn supper. --Shak. 4. Fitted to awaken or express serious reflections; marked by seriousness; serious; grave; devout; as, a solemn promise; solemn earnestness. Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches troubled thoughts. --Milton. There reigned a solemn silence over all. --Spenser. 5. Real; earnest; downright. [Obs. & R.] Frederick, the emperor, . . . has spared no expense in strengthening this city; since which time we find no solemn taking it by the Turks. --Fuller. 6. Affectedly grave or serious; as, to put on a solemn face. ``A solemn coxcomb.'' --Swift. 7. (Law) Made in form; ceremonious; as, solemn war; conforming with all legal requirements; as, probate in solemn form. --Burrill. --Jarman. --Greenleaf. Solemn League and Covenant. See Covenant, 2. Syn: Grave; formal; ritual; ceremonial; sober; serious; reverential; devotional; devout. See Grave.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Someone or something that is solemn is very serious rather than cheerful or humorous. His solemn little face broke into smiles... He looked solemn. = serious ADJ • solemnity The setting for this morning's signing ceremony matched the solemnity of the occasion. 2. A solemn promise or agreement is one that you make in a very formal, sincere way. ...a solemn pledge that he would never remarry. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Formal, ritual, ceremonial. 2. Sacred, religious, devout, reverential, devotional. 3. Serious, grave, sober, important. 4. Awful, august, venerable, imposing, grand, stately, majestic, awe-inspiring, impressive. 5. Earnest, serious, impressive.

Moby Thesaurus

Christian, Christianlike, Christianly, admiring, adorant, adoring, apotheosizing, arid, aristocratic, august, awe-inspiring, awed, awesome, awestricken, awestruck, barren, believing, black, blah, blank, bleak, bloated, bloodless, bombastic, celebrating, celebrative, ceremonial, ceremonious, characterless, cold, colorless, commemorating, commemorative, conventional, courtly, cultish, cultist, cultistic, dark, dead, decorous, deifying, demure, devoted, devotional, devout, dignified, dismal, divine, draggy, drear, drearisome, dreary, dry, dryasdust, dull, dusty, dutiful, earnest, ecclesiastical, effete, elephantine, elevated, empty, etiolated, fade, faithful, fatal, fateful, flat, flatulent, formal, formidable, frowning, full, funebrial, funereal, gassy, gloomy, glum, grand, grandiloquent, grave, gray, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, hallowed, heavy, hero-worshiping, hieratic, ho-hum, hollow, holy, idolatrous, idolizing, imploring, important, imposing, impressive, in awe, in the dust, inane, inexcitable, inflated, insipid, inspiring, jejune, kingly, leaden, lifeless, liturgic, liturgical, lofty, long-faced, lordly, low-spirited, magisterial, magnificent, majestic, memorial, mirthless, moderate, momentous, morbid, morose, moving, no-nonsense, noble, on bended knee, ostentatious, overwhelming, pale, pallid, pedestrian, pietistic, pious, plenary, plodding, pointless, poky, pompous, ponderous, pontifical, portentous, prayerful, precative, precatory, princely, prostrate before, queenly, regal, religious, reserved, reverent, reverential, ritual, ritualistic, royal, sacerdotal, sacramental, sacred, saturnine, sedate, self-important, serious, slow, sober, sober-minded, sobersided, somber, sombrous, spiritless, staid, stately, statuesque, sterile, stiff, stilted, stodgy, stone-faced, straight-faced, stuffy, sublime, superficial, suppliant, supplicant, supplicatory, swollen, taciturn, tasteless, tedious, temperate, theistic, thoughtful, triste, tumid, turgid, unlively, unsmiling, vapid, venerable, venerational, venerative, weariful, wearisome, weary, weighty, well-mannered, wooden, worshipful, worshiping, worthy