stand on ceremony
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Behave formally.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I don't believe in standing on ceremony, the Collector congratulated himself piously.
We don't stand on ceremony in this house.’
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “stand on ceremony” mean?
Behave formally.
Is “stand on ceremony” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“ra vẻ” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.