obsequies means funeral rites. It carries an Arena rating of 1680, earned across 30 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, obsequies ranks #1,831 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,350 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,517 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,825 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
obsequies is pronounced /ˈɔbsɪ.kwiːz/.
Why “obsequies” is a great word
OBSEQUIES — [Noun] The formal rites and ceremonies performed at or after a funeral. From Middle English obsequias, obsequies, from Anglo-Norman obsequie, from Medieval Latin obsequiae (influenced by Latin exsequiae, "funeral procession"), from Latin obsequium ("compliance, dutiful service"). Unlike "funeral," which denotes the event of interment, or "commemoration," a later act of remembrance, obsequies are the precise, prescribed architecture of public mourning. It is the measured tread of the pallbearers, the heavy black cloth draped over the coffin, and the somber, archaic language of the liturgy—the last, perfect compliance we can offer the dead, a formal surrender to the fact of absence.
Etymology
Plural of obsequy; from Middle English obsequias, obsequies, obsequyes, from Latin obsequiae.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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