PROCESSION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does procession mean? 

• PROCESSION (noun)
  The noun PROCESSION has 3 senses:

1. (theology) the origination of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

2. the group action of a collection of people or animals or vehicles moving ahead in more or less regular formation

3. the act of moving forward (as toward a goal)

  Familiarity information: PROCESSION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROCESSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(theology) the origination of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

emanation; procession; rise

Context example:

the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son

Hypernyms ("procession" is a kind of...):

inception; origin; origination (an event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events)

Domain category:

theological system; theology (a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The group action of a collection of people or animals or vehicles moving ahead in more or less regular formation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

processions were forbidden

Hypernyms ("procession" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "procession"):

convoy (a procession of land vehicles traveling together)

caravan; train; wagon train (a procession (of wagons or mules or camels) traveling together in single file)

cavalcade (a procession of people traveling on horseback)

march (a procession of people walking together)

motorcade (a procession of people traveling in motor cars)

parade (a ceremonial procession including people marching)

cortege (a funeral procession)

recession; recessional (the withdrawal of the clergy and choir from the chancel to the vestry at the end of a church service)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of moving forward (as toward a goal)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

advance; advancement; forward motion; onward motion; procession; progress; progression

Hypernyms ("procession" is a kind of...):

motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "procession"):

push (an effort to advance)

career; life history (the general progression of your working or professional life)

march (a steady advance)

clear sailing; easy going; plain sailing (easy unobstructed progress)

leapfrog (advancing as if in the child's game, by leaping over obstacles or competitors)

Derivation:

proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

 Context examples 

We made quite a gay procession of it, and my child-wife was the gayest there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Now we shall have to wait for that procession to pass. It's going to the Church of St. John.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then the procession started on, little spurts of strength coming into White Fang's muscles as he used them and the blood began to surge through them.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

'A procession! A procession!' was the cry.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The solemn procession, headed by Baddeley, of tea-board, urn, and cake-bearers, made its appearance, and delivered her from a grievous imprisonment of body and mind.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I pondered it long, lying sleepless in my bunk and reviewing in endless procession the facts of the situation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The funeral procession was anything but a pageant.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was with this extraordinary procession trooping at his and Maria's heels into a confectioner's in quest if the biggest candy-cane ever made, that he encountered Ruth and her mother.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Street after street and all the folks asleep—street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church—till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)