Meaning & use
ring bearer
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person, often a young child, who carries the wedding rings to the front during a marriage ceremony.
Grammar: A countable noun: the ring bearer, two ring bearers.
Patterns
- ring bearer at a wedding
- ring bearer for someone
My nephew was the ring bearer, and he walked down the aisle very slowly with a small pillow.
The couple asked their golden retriever to be the ring bearer.
At the rehearsal, the ring bearer forgot where the rings were.
nouncountable
In fantasy fiction, the character who carries a powerful magic ring on a dangerous journey.
Grammar: Often used with the as a title: the Ring-bearer, as in a famous fantasy story.
Patterns
- the ring bearer of something
In the novel, the ring bearer must walk to a distant volcano to destroy the ring.
Fans argued about which character was the bravest ring bearer in the saga.
The weight of the ring slowly changes the ring bearer's mind.
Word forms
| plural | ring bearers |
|---|
Common combinations
- serve as ring bearer
- Her cousin agreed to serve as ring bearer at the spring wedding.
- flower girl and ring bearer
- The flower girl and ring bearer walked in together.
- ring bearer pillow
- She sewed a ring bearer pillow from her grandmother's lace.
- ring bearer outfit
- His tiny ring bearer outfit included a bow tie.
- name someone ring bearer
- They named their little brother the ring bearer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- page boy
- Page boy is the British term for a young male attendant at a wedding, but he need not carry the rings.
- flower girl
- A flower girl scatters petals, so she does a different job from the ring bearer, though both are children at the ceremony.
- best man
- The best man is an adult who looks after the rings for the groom and is not a ceremonial child role.
Word family
Commonly confused: ring bearer or pallbearer?
ring bearer vs pallbearer
A pallbearer helps carry a coffin at a funeral, while a ring bearer carries rings at a wedding.
Practice
At the wedding, the four-year-old ___ proudly carried the rings on a satin cushion.
Choose one answer.
A ring bearer carries the rings at a wedding. A pallbearer works at funerals, and the other options are not real ceremony roles.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ring bearer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.