commemorate
/kəˈmɛməreɪt
/verb [with object]
1Recall and show respect for (someone or something): a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the war dead a stone commemorating a boy who died at sea...
- I have laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in Belfast to commemorate the British war dead.
- In subsequent years, the hour and day was set aside to commemorate the war dead of the Allied nations.
- So he argued against the rich being able to commemorate their war dead with ornate personal graves.
1.1Mark or celebrate (an event or person) by doing or producing something: the victory was commemorated in songs...
- I danced into the morning to celebrate the coming-of-age of young men and fell asleep in a dark hut while marriages and deaths were commemorated in song.
- I was born In The Summer Of '69, and a song was written to commemorate the occasion.
- He was awarded the Trinity Cross in 1978, his portrait adorned two postage stamps and six calypso songs were penned to commemorate his triumph.
Synonyms
celebrate, pay tribute to, pay homage to, honour, salute, toast;
remember, recognize, acknowledge, observe, mark, memorialize, immortalize, keep alive the memory of
Derivatives
commemorator
- She left me her journals and memories and pictures, and in 1980 I was not so much hung up as I was a commemorator and an appreciator.
- Its aim is to both inspire curious Poles and challenge the thousands of yearly commemorators at the concentration camps in Galician Poland.
- And even while the commemorators shared many ideas about civilization and progress, they followed their ideas of civilization and progress to widely divergent conclusions.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin commemorat- 'brought to remembrance', from the verb commemorare, from com- 'altogether' + memorare 'relate' (from memor 'mindful').