Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A hymn or piece of music that accompanies a ceremonial recession.
- noun A recession from a church.
- adjective Of or relating to a recession.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to or connected with recession, or a receding movement, as that of the choir or congregation at the close of a service: as, a recessional hymn.
- noun A hymn sung while the clergy and choir are leaving a church at the end of a service of public worship.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to recession or withdrawal.
- adjective a hymn sung in a procession returning from the choir to the robing room; a
recessional . - noun a hymn or other piece of music sung or played while a church congregation is leaving a service, or a choir is returning to the cloak room; a recessional hymn.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Music played during a church
recession .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the withdrawal of the clergy and choir from the chancel to the vestry at the end of a church service
- adjective of or relating to receding
- noun a hymn that is sung at the end of a service as the clergy and choir withdraw
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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You saw that in recessional year elections in 1958, 1970, 1982.
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And the recessional was a loud Bach piece called "In Thee is Joy."
badger Diary Entry badger 2002
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This system is referred to as recessional agriculture and also may involve sorghum.
Chapter 7 1981
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Amen! A recessional is a hymn sung while the clergy and the choir are retiring at the end of a church service.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 Charles Herbert Sylvester
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Although verses of "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" were interspersed with the chants that opened the service and sung — in Church Slavonic — as a kind of recessional hymn, there were no "hymns" as Protestants would think of them.
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Although verses of "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" were interspersed with the chants that opened the service and sung — in Church Slavonic — as a kind of recessional hymn, there were no "hymns" as Protestants would think of them.
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Later, just after the "recessional" when it was just Gary and me with no one else around.
Offbeat Bride Offbeat Elves 2010
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The last sound of the recessional is the echo of flutes.) (A group of workmen passes.
The Centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921 1922
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After the recessional hymn, many parishioners stay and chat with one another for a few minutes, before slowly making their way back outside.
American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010
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Hundreds of congregants spill out of the sanctuary to the sound of a spirited organ recessional as the second Sunday worship service at Trinity Boston comes to an end.
American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010
LadyRa commented on the word recessional
For some reason this words strikes me as particularly heartbreaking.
July 28, 2010