Procession Meaning
/pɹəˈsɛʃən/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe act of progressing or proceeding.
nounA group of people or things moving along in an orderly, stately, or solemn manner; a train of persons advancing in order; a retinue.
Sentence Examples
In Disneyland, popular characters in various stories march in procession at one o'clock.
The mayor walked at the head of the procession.
The procession moved into the church.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During the ceremony, a long ____ of priests walked slowly down the aisle.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The funeral ____ moved slowly through the streets as mourners lined the pavements in silence.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English processioun, borrowed from Old French pourciession, from Latin prōcessiō (“a marching forward, an advance, in Late Latin a religious procession”), from prōcēdere, past participle prōcessus (“to move forward, advance, proceed”); see proceed.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"From whence it came to pass in the primitive times , that the Latin fathers taught expressly the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son"
— 1659, John Pearson, Exposition of the Creed:
"Yet proof is here of men's unquenched desire / That the procession of their life might be / More equable majestic pure and free; […]"
— 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, “The Same Continued”, in The Story of Justin Martyr, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 126:
"Here comes the towneſ-men, on Proceſſion, / To preſent your Highneſſe with the man."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 126, column 2:
"By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air."
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter I, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 7:
"The final fifty miles of the race was a procession with little change in the relative positions of the cars […]"
— 1914, Westways, volume 6, page 7:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
During the ceremony, a long ____ of priests walked slowly down the aisle.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The funeral ____ moved slowly through the streets as mourners lined the pavements in silence.