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obsequy

/ˈɑbsɪkwi/
IPA guide

Other forms: obsequies

Obsequies are the traditional ceremonies that happen at a funeral. Your great-grandmother's obsequies may include prayers, poetry readings, and songs sung by the mourners.

This word is most often used in its plural form, obsequies, to mean "funeral rites." All the traditions associated with a person's death, funeral, or burial, as well as any rituals of mourning, can be described as obsequies. Sometimes these are religious, like singing particular hymns or reciting specific prayers, while others are more personal. The Latin source of obsequy is obsequium, "dutiful compliance," influenced by exsequiae, "funeral rites."

Definitions of obsequy
  1. noun
    a funeral or burial ceremony or rite (usually plural)
  2. noun
    abject or cringing submissiveness
    see moresee less
    types:
    sycophancy
    fawning obsequiousness
    type of:
    submissiveness
    the trait of being willing to yield to the will of another person or a superior force etc.
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