ritual

American  

[rich-oo-uhl] / ˈrɪtʃ u əl /

noun

• rituals
  plural

1. 

   an established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite.

2. a system or collection of religious or other rites.

3. observance of set forms in public worship.

4. a book of rites or ceremonies.

5. a book containing the offices to be used by priests in administering the sacraments and for visitation of the sick, burial of the dead, etc.

6. a prescribed or established rite, ceremony, proceeding, or service.

   the ritual of the dead.

7. prescribed, established, or ceremonial acts or features collectively, as in religious services.

8. any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner.

9. a prescribed code of behavior regulating social conduct, as that exemplified by the raising of one's hat or the shaking of hands in greeting.

10. Psychiatry. a specific act, as hand-washing, performed repetitively to a pathological degree, occurring as a common symptom of obsessive-compulsive neurosis.

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adjective

1. of the nature of or practiced as a rite or ritual.

   a ritual dance.

   Synonyms:

   sacramental, formal, ceremonial

2. of or relating to rites or ritual.

   ritual laws.

ritual British  

/ ˈrɪtjʊəl /

noun

1. the prescribed or established form of a religious or other ceremony

2. such prescribed forms in general or collectively

3. stereotyped activity or behaviour

4. psychol any repetitive behaviour, such as hand-washing, performed by a person with a compulsive personality disorder

5. any formal act, institution, or procedure that is followed consistently

   the ritual of the law

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of religious, social, or other rituals

Synonym Usage

See ceremony.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antiritual
  adjective
• proritual
  adjective
• unritual
  adjective
• ritually
  adverb
• unritually
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rituals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ritual

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin rītuālis, from rītu(s) rite + -ālis -al ¹

Explanation

A ritual is a ceremony or action performed in a customary way. Your family might have a Saturday night ritual of eating a big spaghetti dinner and then taking a long walk to the ice cream shop. As an adjective, ritual means "conforming to religious rites," which are the sacred, customary ways of celebrating a religion or culture. Different communities have different ritual practices, like meditation in Buddhism, or baptism in Christianity. We also call the ceremony itself a ritual. Although it comes from religious ceremonies, ritual can also be used for any time-honored tradition, like the Superbowl, or Mardi Gras, or Sunday morning pancake breakfast.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ritual rituals

The couple also wove Scottish traditions into their ceremony, taking part in a Celtic handfasting ritual, using pieces of fabric provided by both of their grandmothers.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Historically this is a hazardous ritual, unfair to the developing athlete, who’s better served being ignored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

The landscape is beautiful but not merely picturesque - a small world held together by ritual, family and geography, while something larger presses in from beyond its edges.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

But know only that in its opening minutes we learn that we have been swindled and are now part of a ritual of sorts to summon said alien.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

And every few years, with a regularity and rapture that approached ritual, they traded up for a new car.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

I’m no expert, but I don’t think their mating rituals involve using the New York Times to plead their case or, when that doesn’t work, threatening to move en masse to Tennessee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Wehniainen speculated that a difficult job market may have left candidates desensitized to interview rituals and discouraged about their chances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

FoodNeverComes belongs to a new internet genre: "dopamine sites", which recreate the rituals of consumption without the consumption.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

There are rituals of professionalism whose disappearance I will survive.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

She had performed smaller protection rituals before, but never one this major, or as important.

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo

Related Words

• act
• custom
• formality
• habit
• liturgy
• observance
• practice
• procedure
• rite
• routine
• stereotype