ritual
adjective
rit·u·al
| \ ˈri-chə-wəl
, -chəl; ˈrich-wəl\
, -chəl; ˈrich-wəl\
Definition of ritual
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: of or relating to rites or a ritual : ceremonial
a ritual dance
2
: according to religious law
ritual purity
3
: done in accordance with social custom or normal protocol
ritual handshakes ritual background checks
ritual
nounDefinition of ritual (Entry 2 of 2)
1
: the established form for a ceremony
specifically
: the order of words prescribed for a religious ceremony
2a
: ritual observance
specifically
: a system of rites
b
: a ceremonial act or action
c
: an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner
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Synonyms for ritual
Synonyms: Noun
custom, fashion, habit, habitude, pattern, practice (also practise), second nature, trick, way, wont
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Examples of ritual in a Sentence
Noun
The priest will perform the ritual. He was buried simply, without ceremony or ritual. the daily ritual of preparing breakfast His day-to-day life is based on ritual.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
LiveScience reports that hundreds of Mayan artifacts that may have been used in ritual animal sacrifices have been discovered at the bottom of a Guatemalan lake. — Fox News, "World’s largest 'mass child sacrifice' site discovered in Peru: reports," 30 Aug. 2019 Novak speculated to The New York Times that the youths may have died as part of a ritual sacrifice, because the contents of the pit were similar to those found in other cases of sacrifice from the same period. — Martin Finucane, BostonGlobe.com, "Medieval Croatian skulls indicate that people intentionally modified their head shapes. But why?," 29 Aug. 2019 Lave Tete,’’ 2001, an austere sculpture depicting a black woman bent double, washing her hair in a way that evokes ritual cleansing of the head performed in Haitian Vodou initiation ceremonies. — Steven Litt, cleveland.com, "An urgent look at 400 years of history: ‘Black Atlantic’ exhibit in Oberlin explores impact of slavery," 25 Aug. 2019 Wagner built this theater for his operas, and only his operas are performed every summer, attended with a ritual religiosity by devotees who plan their pilgrimage years in advance. — Los Angeles Times, "Commentary: How two top directors are teaching Europe the L.A. School of Opera," 23 Aug. 2019 This conversational dust-up over Jones of the past several weeks was ritual nonsense. — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, "Hyde: Reshad Jones is back with Dolphins — but question of his future won’t go away | Commentary," 4 June 2019 In its final moments the film turns the ritual slaughter of a beast into the ritual slaughter of a man. — Kyle Smith, National Review, "The Greatest War Movie Ever Made," 10 Aug. 2019 Then the community gathers near the house of the head priest and sings ritual songs while drinking and dancing. — Washington Post, "AP Photos: Tribe in northeast India prays for good harvest," 12 June 2019 The only country where this happens In the ritual response to mass shootings, America’s moral compass is a satirical website, the Onion. — Tim Fernholz, Quartz, "America’s mass shootings are a political choice," 6 Aug. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The sources of its power are in ritual, repetition, restatement, rubbing your nose in it; in a complexity that becomes—on the 10th or 10,000th listen—incantatory. — James Parker, The Atlantic, "The Persistent Complexity of Tool," 24 Aug. 2019 Generations of students have participated in the ritual. — Chicago Tribune Staff, chicagotribune.com, "Daywatch: CTU group’s Venezuela trip slammed as ‘propaganda tour,’ a ‘nightmare’ year for Illinois farmers and other things to know to start your day," 19 Aug. 2019 Three times a year, the sultan of Yogyakarta, an ancient Javanese city, blesses his people with offerings of food in a ritual that mixes Hindu symbolism with Islamic beliefs. — The Economist, "A Javanese sultan wants his daughter to succeed him. His people object," 17 Aug. 2019 Many of the pieces in the show revel in a ritual of work and craft that reveals the hand of the artists. — Darryl Ratcliff, Dallas News, "Latina artists in Dallas showcase 'were told ‘no,’ and they triumphed anyway’," 25 July 2019 Hundreds of thousands of people once converged on a remote site in upstate New York to engage in a mass ritual marked by a wide range of unusual behaviors. — Martin Finucane, BostonGlobe.com, "Archeologists are examining a famous New York ritual gathering site: Woodstock," 25 June 2019 Visit Scone Palace where, for hundreds of years, monarchs of Scotland were crowned in a ritual centered around the Stone of Scone, an oblong block also known as the Stone of Destiny. — National Geographic, "Scotland Private Expedition," 12 June 2019 Alex Mar, the author of the 2016 memoir Witches of America, takes part in a Samhain ritual on the day in October when the veil between worlds thins and the dead can reach out and touch you. — Longreads, "Demonology: A Woman’s Right to Fury," 10 June 2019 Only a small group of Tamalpais High School’s 1,600 students take part in this ritual of brash high jinks, bluster and teenage torment. — Rachel Swan, SFChronicle.com, "‘Hook up with an eighth grader’: Mill Valley high school students in hot water over to-do list," 7 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ritual.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for ritual
ritual
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of ritual
(Entry 1 of 2)
: done as part of a ceremony or ritual
: always done in a particular situation and in the same way each time
ritual
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of ritual (Entry 2 of 2)
: a formal ceremony or series of acts that is always performed in the same way
: an act or series of acts done in a particular situation and in the same way each time
See the full definition for ritual in the English Language Learners Dictionary
ritual
noun
rit·u·al
| \ ˈri-chə-wəl
\
\