ritual

American  

[rich-oo-uhl] / ˈrɪtʃ u əl /

noun

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

Related Words

See ceremony.

Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of ritual

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

Example Sentences

The ban comes days before the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, where people tidy the graves of loved ones and make ritual offerings.

From BBC

Jewson’s film is thankfully scrubbed of satanic panic, but still focuses on a damsel — or, in this case, damsels — in distress, attempting to escape the bizarre, clandestine ritual they’ve found themselves at the center of.

From Salon

Its narrative, as signaled by the title, depicts Mr. Lemann’s metaphorical progress from a Southern heritage in which Jewish descent was a mild social embarrassment to an enthusiastic embrace of Jewish rituals and beliefs.

From The Wall Street Journal

We thought of it as a kind of Beuysian social sculpture, it was a weekly ritual, and over time it became something of an institution in the L.A. art world.

From Los Angeles Times

But what kind of a Jew, with my waning attachment to ritual observance and insistent questioning of Orthodox belief?

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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