any activity that is performed in an especially solemn elaborate or formal way; "the ceremony of smelling the cork and tasting the wine"; "he makes a ceremony of addressing his golf ball"; "he disposed of it without ceremony"
the proper or conventional behavior on some solemn occasion; "an inaugural ceremony"
a formal event performed on a special occasion; "a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor"
bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade protruding; in ancient Rome it was a symbol of a magistrate's power; in modern Italy it is a symbol of fascism
some situation or event that is thought about; "he kept drifting off the topic"; "he had been thinking about the subject for several years"; "it is a matter for the police"