Definition of "ceremonial"

What mockery will it beTo want the bridegroom when the priest attendsTo speak the ceremonial rites of marriage!

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]

His merit introduced him to splendid tables and elegant acquaintance, but he did not find himself always qualified to join in the conversation. He was distressed by civilities, which he knew not how to repay, and entangled in many ceremonial perplexities, from which his books and diagrams could not extricate him.

1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 179, 3 December, 1751, Volume 6, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 53

[…] this change in ceremonial observances and outward show was trifling when compared to that in the objects of worship […]

1827, Henry Hallam, chapter 2, in The Constitutional History of England‎, volume 1, Paris: L. Baudry, page 116

Philomena Guinea’s black Cadillac eased through the tight, five o’clock traffic like a ceremonial car.

1963, Sylvia Plath, chapter 15, in The Bell Jar‎, New York: Bantam, published 1972, page 151

Oh monstrous, superstitious puritan,Of refin’d manners, yet ceremoniall man,

c. 1593–1597, J[ohn] Donne, “Satyre I”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, page 326

[…] with dumb Pride, and a set formal Face,He moves, in the dull Ceremonial track,

1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], page 193, lines 56-57

Curt’sies, and the usual Ceremonials between Women who are Strangers to each other being past, Sophia said, ‘I have not the Pleasure to know you, Madam.’

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 6, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], book 17, page 257

Public ceremonies, such as ordinations, the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself to the people, were, as a matter of policy, marked by a stately and well-conducted ceremonial, and a sombre, but yet a studied magnificence.

1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “chapter 5”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields

There was little ceremonial to mark the opening of the completed railway beyond the fact that a decorated train left Paddington at 8 a.m. on the morning of June 30 a hundred years ago and, passing the beflagged ends of Box tunnel, arrived at Bristol at noon.

1941 November, “Notes and News: G.W.R. Main-Line Centenary”, in Railway Magazine, page 521

I have been in favour of ceremonial and patterns all my life, and I have no desire to break the funeral pattern.

1972, Robertson Davies, chapter 5, in The Manticore, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, published 2015