 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
solemn
adjective
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}]
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}, {in
earnest(p)}, {sincere}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Solemn \Sol"emn\, adjective [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}.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
213 Moby Thesaurus words for "solemn":
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
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