verb
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(intr) to engage in ritualism or devise rituals
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(tr) to make (something) into a ritual
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ritualize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Professor, activist and author Maulana Karenga would ritualize and sacralize the cultural and moral underpinnings of these practices in the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
From Salon ● Nov. 20, 2019
In your case, it might mean learning to ritualize walking outdoors, reading poetry or listening to a favorite piece of music.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 10, 2018
The bris makes it possible “to ritualize that you’re part of something larger, you’re part of a people — past, present and future.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2017
Both works ritualize "Macbeth" into a stylized allegory without sacrificing any of the visceral horror.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2015
Can civilization go farther than to ritualize death as we have done?
From Rosinante to the Road Again by Dos Passos, John
"But it also points to a deeper cultural significance, suggesting people recognized the exceptional power of this fertilizer and actively celebrated, protected and even ritualized the vital relationship between seabirds and agriculture."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
The language is reflexive, ritualized, and remarkably effective.
From Slate ● Jan. 25, 2026
We move in a familiar loop: outrage at dysfunction, ritualized critique, then a quiet hope that the same brittle systems will somehow stabilize themselves when the stakes get high.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
We tolerate misallocation because we are purchasing something other than objects: reassurance, attention, belonging—a ritualized way of saying you matter to me and I am willing to incur a cost to prove it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
An ultimatum accepted and ritualized, an allegiance recited for the peace it imparted, and for that perhaps loved.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
“The Book of Birds” is, like poetry, a form of memory, recovery and ritualizing delight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Religion is the most obvious construction for ritualizing meaning.
From Washington Post ● May 15, 2020
This Brooklyn-based choreographer, originally from Uruguay, presents the premiere of “Brujx,” in which she continues her investigation of dance as a healing art by ritualizing the labor of her dancers.
From New York Times ● Oct. 18, 2018
The two groups then played a trust game, and Inzlicht found that the ritualizing “reds” distrusted the nonritualizing outgroup much more than they had before.
From Time ● Jan. 13, 2015
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
