Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The prescribed order of a religious ceremony.
- n. The body of ceremonies or rites used in a place of worship.
- n. The prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony: the ritual of an inauguration.
- n. The body of ceremonies used by a fraternal organization.
- n. A book of rites or ceremonial forms.
- n. A ceremonial act or a series of such acts.
- n. The performance of such acts.
- n. A detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed: My household chores have become a morning ritual.
- n. A state or condition characterized by the presence of established procedure or routine: "Prison was a ritual—reenacted daily, year in, year out. Prisoners came and went; generations came and went; and yet the ritual endured” ( William H. Hallahan).
- adj. Associated with or performed according to a rite or ritual: a priest's ritual garments; a ritual sacrifice.
- adj. Being part of an established routine: a ritual glass of milk before bed.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to, consisting of, or prescribing a rite or rites.
- n. A book containing the rites or ordinances of a church or of any special service. Specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the ritual is an office-book containing the offices to be used by a priest in administering the sacraments (baptism, marriage, penance, extreme unction, communion out of mass), together with the offices for the visitation of the sick, burial of the dead, benedictions, etc. The corresponding book in the medieval church in England was called the manual.
- n. A prescribed manner of performing religious worship or other devotional service in any given ecclesiastical or other organization.
- n. The external form prescribed for religious or other devotional services.
- n. Any ceremonial form or custom of procedure.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to rites or ritual
- n. A prescribed form of performing divine service in a particular church or communion.
- n. Hence, the code of ceremonies observed by an organization.
- n. A book containing the rites to be observed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. stereotyped behavior
- adj. of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals
- adj. of or relating to or employed in social rites or rituals
- n. any customary observance or practice
- n. the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies
Etymologies
- From Latin adjective ritualis, from noun rituum, rite, + adjective suffix -alis. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin rītuālis, of rites, from rītus, rite; see rite. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The ritual -- that's what it was, it was a * ritual* -- the ritual had the feel of something worn smooth with countless repetitions.”
“As she says in her book,"The Joy of Ritual," "To some, the word ritual evokes a vision of frenzied, naked savages beating tom-toms as they dance around a blazing fire...”
“In fact, the word ritual is often tied to spiritual practices—things that we believe touch our soul.”
“A PETA spokesman says the ritual is abusive and unnecessary.”
“In other words, a ritual is a kinaesthetic activity.”
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“Although the ritual is a bit more extensive, those are the most necessary words to be used (especially in cases of emergency baptisms).”
“In religious terms, the ritual is a message, a statement in the symbology of religion, addressed to the divine powers.”
“His book "Gendered Advertisements" is said to claim "that ads often portrayed women as subordinate to men involved in what he called the ritual of subordination, or physically placing themselves in some form of submissive position.”
“At this level, the sell job performs what I call the ritual soulectomy: the dehumanization of an enemy, whose uncomplicated, godless evil makes the game possible.”
“The energy in that kind of ritual is very powerful.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ritual’.
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Psychology
Chapter 1
rigorous, occurrence, maze, divers, intellectual, expansion, all in all, sensation, introspection, radical, orientation, nurture and 174 more...
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macabre
words associated with the macabre & horror.
( open list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.co...ghastly, grisly, culeus, silly, gruesome, horrid, morbid, angelic, shocking, hideous, ghoulish, frightful and 136 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Neww
specious, disdainfully, vehemently, in lieu of, dismissive, perpetual, preposterous, impasse, fathom, conversely, repugnant, clogged and 142 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Wharton, Edith. Age of Innocence. 1920
A list of difficult words for L2-12 learners.
Faust, erection, metropolitan, splendor, shabby, conservatives, cherished, inconvenient, clung, acoustics, coupe, scramble and 261 more...
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candy cane heroin
sex, sexual, branden, rozz, candy cane, candy canes, cotton candy, may day, may, taurus, heroin, love and 134 more...
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know-it-all
eunuch, couvade, ecclesiastes, enigma, inevitable, crucible, genteel, bedlam, baculum, scapulimancy, atrophy, smut and 170 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Hilary's List
Just a list of words I like
wellspring, mystery, wonderment, intrinsic, artisan, enchantment, magic, transience, incomplete, impermanent, imperfect, resonance and 163 more...
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fitting words
a list of words from the indo european root ar- and variations : to fit together
ambry, rede, coarctate, anarthrous, artiodactyl, exordium, harmony, army, armoire, arm, armada, armadillo and 349 more...
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Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ritual.

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