Ritual
['rɪtʃʊəl] or ['rɪtʃuəl]
Definition
(noun.) stereotyped behavior.
(noun.) any customary observance or practice.
(noun.) the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies.
(adj.) of or relating to or employed in social rites or rituals; 'a ritual dance of Haiti'; 'sedate little colonial tribe with its ritual tea parties'- Nadine Gordimer .
(adj.) of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals; 'ritual killing' .
Edited by Diana--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to rites or ritual; as, ritual service or sacrifices; the ritual law.
(n.) A prescribed form of performing divine service in a particular church or communion; as, the Jewish ritual.
(n.) Hence, the code of ceremonies observed by an organization; as, the ritual of the freemasons.
(n.) A book containing the rites to be observed.
Inputed by Addie
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Ceremonial.
n. Liturgy, formulary of public worship.
Typed by Ann
Definition
adj. consisting of or prescribing rites.—n. manner of performing divine service or a book containing it: the body of rites employed in the church: the code of ceremonies observed by an organisation as the ritual of the Freemasons.—ns. Rit′ūalism systems of rituals or prescribed forms of religion: the observance of them: the name popularly given to the great increase of ceremonial and symbolism by means of special vestments &c. in the Church of England since about 1860-65: Rit′ūalist one skilled in or devoted to a ritual: one of the party devoted to ritualism in the Church of England.—adj. Ritūalist′ic pertaining to the ritual.—adv. Rit′ūally.
Inputed by Hodge
Examples
- Except for the weak and the women, there remained little comfort or assurance in the sacrifices, ritual and formal devotions of the temples. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I was taken to the churches on solemn occasions--days of fête and state; I was shown the Papal ritual and ceremonial. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- They have their invisible popes, called Art, Nature, Science, with regalia and ritual and a catechism. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- These, said he, are all that I have left to remind me of the adventure of the Musgrave Ritual. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- One condition mentioned in the Ritual would then be fulfilled. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Two steps to the west meant now that I was to go two paces down the stone-flagged passage, and this was the place indicated by the Ritual. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- By the first of November this household ritual was over, and society had begun to look about and take stock of itself. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- It was part of the inevitable ritual of her life. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- There is sometimes a ritual of laboratory instruction as well as of heathen religion. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Consider what the Ritual says: How does it run? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- There is a drawing in a Spanish cave at Cogul, near the Ebro, which is supposed to represent a later pal?olithic ritual dance. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- With this faith he associated a simple ritual borrowed from the Persian Zoroastrians (the Parsees) who still survived, and survive to-day, in India. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The centre of its elaborate ritual was an altar, and the essential act of worship the sacrifice, by a consecrated priest, of the mass. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- There is something in its ritual I cannot receive myself, but it is the sole creed for 'Lucy. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- They were concerned with religious experience, of which churches and rituals are nothing but the external satisfaction. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
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