ritual

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The prescribed order of a religious ceremony.
2. n. The body of ceremonies or rites used in a place of worship.
3. n. The prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony: the ritual of an inauguration.
4. n. The body of ceremonies used by a fraternal organization.
5. n. A book of rites or ceremonial forms.
6. n. A ceremonial act or a series of such acts.
7. n. The performance of such acts.
8. n. A detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed: My household chores have become a morning ritual.
9. 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).
10. adj. Associated with or performed according to a rite or ritual: a priest's ritual garments; a ritual sacrifice.
11. adj. Being part of an established routine: a ritual glass of milk before bed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Pertaining to, consisting of, or prescribing a rite or rites.
2. 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.
3. n. A prescribed manner of performing religious worship or other devotional service in any given ecclesiastical or other organization.
4. n. The external form prescribed for religious or other devotional services.
5. n. Any ceremonial form or custom of procedure.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Related to a rite or repeated set of actions.
2. n. rite; a repeated set of actions

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of or pertaining to rites or ritual
2. n. A prescribed form of performing divine service in a particular church or communion.
3. n. Hence, the code of ceremonies observed by an organization.
4. n. A book containing the rites to be observed.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. stereotyped behavior
2. adj. of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals
3. adj. of or relating to or employed in social rites or rituals
4. n. any customary observance or practice
5. n. the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies