Meaning & use
funeral procession
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A line of vehicles or people that travels together, usually slowly, behind a coffin from a service to the burial place.
Grammar: Countable: a funeral procession, two funeral processions.
Patterns
- join a funeral procession
- a funeral procession to somewhere
Traffic stopped as the funeral procession passed down Main Street.
The funeral procession wound slowly from the church to the cemetery.
Hundreds of mourners walked in the funeral procession behind the hearse.
Word forms
| plural | funeral processions |
|---|
Common combinations
- join a funeral procession
- We joined the funeral procession at the church gate.
- lead a funeral procession
- A police motorcycle led the funeral procession through town.
- a long funeral procession
- A long funeral procession followed the coffin.
- pass a funeral procession
- Drivers must not cut in when passing a funeral procession.
- stop for a funeral procession
- Cars stopped for the funeral procession out of respect.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cortege
- Cortege is a more formal or literary word, often used in news reports about important or public funerals.
- funeral cortege
- This is the same event in more solemn language, and it usually refers to vehicles rather than walkers.
- cavalcade
- A cavalcade is any ceremonial line of vehicles or riders and is not tied to a funeral, so it can sound celebratory.
Word family
- funeral noun
- the ceremony held when a dead person is buried or cremated
- procession noun
- a group moving forward in an orderly line
- funereal adjective
- gloomy and slow, like a funeral
- process verb
- to move forward in a slow, formal line
Commonly confused: funeral procession or procession?
funeral procession vs procession
A procession can be any ceremonial line, such as a parade, while a funeral procession is specifically the group traveling with the coffin.
Practice
What do drivers usually do when a funeral procession approaches an intersection?
Choose one answer.
Out of respect, drivers normally let a funeral procession pass. Honking and overtaking would be rude, and joining uninvited would be odd.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “funeral procession”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.