MEANING
To honor and keep the memory of a person or event through an observance or lasting marker.
Use it for
Anniversaries of loss, shared remembrance, memorial objects.Give memory a public action or object that can be contested.
Words that belong together
- commemorate a death
- commemorate an anniversary
- plaque commemorates
On the page
A plaque commemorated the workers who died building the chapel.
Each year the village commemorated the flood with a silent walk.
The family disagreed over how to commemorate her life.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- commemorate / commemorates
- Past tense
- commemorated
- Past participle
- commemorated
- Present participle
- commemorating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- commemorate / commemorates
- Present continuous
- am/is/are commemorating
- Present perfect
- have/has commemorated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been commemorating
- Past
- commemorated
- Past continuous
- was/were commemorating
- Past perfect
- had commemorated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been commemorating
- Future
- will commemorate / commemorates
- Future continuous
- will be commemorating
- Future perfect
- will have commemorated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been commemorating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Memory and honor are central; does not require death and need not praise every aspect of the subject. Verb: commemorate, commemorates, commemorated, commemorated, commemorating. Derived noun commemoration.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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