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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
ritual
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
initiation rite/ritual
▪ initiation rituals for young boys at puberty
satanic ritual/cult/rite
▪ The children were abused as part of a satanic ritual.
solemn ritual/ceremony
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
ancient
▪ Magic Mushrooms Used by the Aztecs in ancient rituals, magic mushrooms are a hallucinogen.
▪ Others sculpted new statues or built temples or traveled to caves or ruins to revive ancient rituals.
▪ So wife Raine asked a clergyman to perform an ancient exorcism ritual at Althorp House, near Northampton.
▪ Some have made pilgrimages to re-enact ancient rituals in caves, others have dressed in costumes and objects evoking traditional Goddess images.
▪ However, I know that experiencing such a unique, ancient ritual is the essence of travelling.
▪ Subtly satirical of western gullibility towards ancient rituals and superstitions, this is several cuts above standard culture-clash fare.
▪ The ancient rituals which linked them to fertility and the renewal of life were abandoned.
annual
▪ It's an annual ritual for the National Trust, as they close down their properties for the winter break.
▪ The formalities may have remained the same, but the political content had been largely drained from the annual rituals.
▪ It seems to show the opéra's concluding divertissement enacting this annual ritual, led by Legrand Druide.
▪ The annual rituals of Orange and Hibernian celebrations were of course occasions when clashes were inevitable.
daily
▪ Profit warnings have become a daily ritual.
▪ That will also help establish your telephone call as a daily ritual for connection while you are away.
▪ Letters avoid this, which is why writing them becomes such an important part of the daily ritual.
▪ It was a daily ritual to continue for many years.
elaborate
▪ The elaborate rituals surrounding the preparation of the icon are not without purpose or effect.
▪ The longer the delivery was delayed, the more elaborate became the rituals and beliefs surrounding the eventual arrival of the ship.
▪ There are elaborate rituals of atonement to be found there.
primitive
▪ The Waste Land itself functions as a primitive ritual.
▪ She was absorbed in the primitive ritual of the hunt and work was erased from her mind.
▪ He was also concerned with primitive ritual as underlying developed ritual.
▪ But it seems that his interest in primitive ritual had led him to place his own stress on life as a ritual.
religious
▪ One needs to study the planning of the buildings, and sculptures and objects normally associated with religious ritual.
▪ After all, in a secular age when religious rituals have lost meaning for many, the grieving still need comfort.
▪ The perehera is unlike any other religious ritual in the world because its procession includes up to 100 elephants.
▪ Our tragedy is that our calendar more and more determines just religious rituals and holidays.
▪ It depicted what he took to be some sort of religious ritual.
▪ Some say they formed a complex of sites for religious rituals.
▪ Continuity was assured by the performance becoming enshrined in a religious ritual which could never be broken for fear of offending the gods.
▪ The church's view, that marriages sanctioned by religious ritual should not be broken, is reflected in divorce laws.
satanic
▪ Perhaps they could substitute the girl for the goat in whatever Satanic ritual they were planning for later.
▪ They said parents sexually abused their children as part of a satanic ritual, and that these practices were widespread.
social
▪ Both social and private rituals that celebrate night, moon, and the changing tides.
▪ It is a social ritual, somewhat akin to a few drinks after work.
traditional
▪ In it the whole idea of the fertility rite is exploded, using the very forms and devices of the traditional ritual.
■ NOUN
initiation
▪ What of our own, where initiation ritual does not exist?
▪ Yet as serious as this initiation ritual is, it is also fun.
■ VERB
perform
▪ For a few hours the Tea Master and his guests perform an artistic ritual in which the mundane is washed from their minds.
▪ Throughout the day the grouse drums in the woods, and the woodcock performs its exuberant ritual at dawn and dusk.
▪ The enigma of the stones draws druids to perform their weird rituals.
▪ He had seen the etchings of it one evening after performing a ritual of weed-pulling from the tombs behind the abandoned pagoda.
▪ So wife Raine asked a clergyman to perform an ancient exorcism ritual at Althorp House, near Northampton.
▪ It says he apparently performed some ritual and gave the girl a cake with her name on it.
▪ Squatting, she performed the familiar ritual of menstruation.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ After an elaborate ritual, the boys are formally accepted into the tribe.
▪ Set up a regular time for homework; make it a ritual.
▪ The ritual is performed in order to thank the Sun Goddess for the rice harvest.
▪ The book examines rituals for childbirth from different parts of the world.
▪ The Chinese surround silk with myth and ritual.
▪ traditional dances and rituals
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After all, in a secular age when religious rituals have lost meaning for many, the grieving still need comfort.
▪ As part of the ritual, everyone carries the kumquats to the table.
▪ But, as Marx saw long ago, free-market capitalism is quintessentially populist and inherently subversive of traditions and rituals.
▪ Once this incorrect impression is accepted and congealed, there is no commanding reason to disrupt the customary rituals of their existence.
▪ That is the effect of the ritual.
▪ The cremation ritual was directed mainly at inducing the spirit of the dead person to go on to the afterworld.
▪ The Western ritual of death was observed - the obligation to remember the most dignified image of the deceased.
▪ What used to be a real chase had become a ritual.
II.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
abuse
▪ In particular, he denounced the accusations of child-murder and ritual abuse which became standard elements in Viennese demonology in that decade.
▪ Other kids had histories of ritual abuse.
▪ The subject is questioning if satanic ritual abuse is fact or fantasy.
▪ The book is a very powerful communication on ritual abuse and its effects.
▪ The Reachout Trust prepared a paper on how to spot symptoms of satanic ritual abuse in children.
▪ It is not known if the original allegations of satanic ritual abuse came from this source.
▪ They were after signs of ritual abuse.
dance
▪ Other heroic figures which figure in the monthly ritual dances are equipped in the same way.
▪ Viv Richards shows his reaction at Gower's exit as the ritual dance begins.
sacrifice
▪ I was beginning to feel like a ritual sacrifice.
▪ Studying economics was more a ritual sacrifice.
▪ The livestock being killed are a ritual sacrifice to the gods of global markets.
▪ I felt I was being dressed for ritual sacrifice and looked for bloodstains on the gloves.
▪ All that's missing is the ritual sacrifice-the fatted calf.
▪ When it is made the object of ritual sacrifice, its extraordinary power is made part of an orderly ritual.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
ritual campaign promises
ritual prayers
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Not quirky little ritual habit-forming, like throwing a pinch of spilled salt over your shoulder, but slow suicide habit-forming.
▪ Other kids had histories of ritual abuse.
▪ Prestige was allotted according to the principles of the ritual cycle.
▪ Tathir, the ritual purification of the social body, requires the destruction of the first and the confinement of the second.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ritual

Ritual \Rit"u*al\, a.[L. ritualis, fr. ritus a rite: cf. F. rituel.] Of or pertaining to rites or ritual; as, ritual service or sacrifices; the ritual law.

Ritual

Ritual \Rit"u*al\, n. [Cf. F. rituel.]

  1. A prescribed form of performing divine service in a particular church or communion; as, the Jewish ritual.

  2. Hence, the code of ceremonies observed by an organization; as, the ritual of the freemasons.

  3. A book containing the rites to be observed.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ritual

1560s, from Middle French ritual or directly from Latin ritualis "relating to (religious) rites," from ritus "rite" (see rite). Related: Ritually.

ritual

1640s, from ritual (adj.).

Wiktionary
ritual

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

WordNet
ritual
  1. adj. of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals; "ritual killing"

  2. 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

ritual
  1. n. any customary observance or practice [syn: rite]

  2. the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies

  3. stereotyped behavior

Wikipedia
Ritual

A ritual "is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence." Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.

Rituals are a feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages and funerals, school " rush" traditions and graduations, club meetings, sporting events, Halloween parties, veterans parades, Christmas shopping and more. Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello may be termed rituals.

The field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsider's or " etic" category for a set activity (or set of actions) that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or " emic" performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker.

In psychology, the term ritual is sometimes used in a technical sense for a repetitive behavior systematically used by a person to neutralize or prevent anxiety; it is a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Ritual (Shaaman album)

Ritual is the first album by the Brazilian heavy metal band Shaman. It was first released in 2002, and it is a concept album, about many cultures, mainly indigenous cultures and shamanism. The album sold over 500,000 copies worldwide since its release.

Ritual (film)

Tales from the Crypt Presents: Ritual is the third and final film spin-off from the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt, following Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood. The film was released in 2002 and stars Tim Curry, Jennifer Grey, and Craig Sheffer with Avi Nesher directing. It is based on the film I Walked With a Zombie.

Ritual (disambiguation)

A ritual is the scripted performance of ceremonial action, usually for a perceived supernatural purpose.

Ritual(s) or The Ritual may also refer to:

Ritual (Hayder novel)

Ritual is a novel by British writer Mo Hayder, published in 2008. It reinstates Hayder's popular protagonist Jack Caffery, who was previously only intended to star in the author's first two novels.

Ritual (album)

' Ritual 'is the third studio album from Vampires Everywhere!. The album was released on March 18, 2016.

Ritual (Los Piojos album)

Ritual (Ritual) is the fifth album by Argentine rock band Los Piojos, released in 1999.

Ritual (White Lies album)

Ritual is the second studio album by the British Indie rock band White Lies. It was released on 17 January 2011, through Fiction Records. The album was produced by Alan Moulder and Max Dingel, at the Assault & Battery Studios in London. The art direction and design was done by Tom Hingston Studio. The album's lead single, " Bigger than Us", was released on 3 January 2011.

A Ritual short film was released, containing three songs from the album: "Bad Love", "Holy Ghost" and "Bigger than Us".

Ritual (band)

Ritual was an early 1980s Harrow-based post-punk band that were later aligned with the early UK-based gothic rock movement. The group is commonly associated with Death Cult (later the Cult), which two Ritual members later joined.

Ritual (The Black Dahlia Murder album)

Ritual is the fifth studio album by American melodic death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder. It was released on June 17 in Europe and on June 21 in North America via Metal Blade Records. It is the band's last record to feature Ryan "Bart" Williams on bass and Shannon Lucas on drums. The album sold 12,960 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at No. 31 on the Billboard 200. The album has sold 51,000 copies in the US as of September 2015.

Ritual (Jape album)

Ritual is the third studio album from electronic rock band Jape, released on Co-op Records in 2008. It won the Choice Music Prize for the 2008 Irish Album of the Year in March 2009.

A video for the song "Graveyard", which was filmed in an actual graveyard in Dublin, was released in May 2008 prior to the release of the album. The album features the singles "I Was a Man", "Strike Me Down" and " Phil Lynott", which was subject to an unsuccessful petition by fans to have it named the Christmas number one in Ireland in December 2008. When squinted at, the cover album art reveals a skull.

The Irish Independents John Meagher named Ritual his twentieth best Irish album of the 2000s.

Ritual (Keith Jarrett album)

Ritual is an album of contemporary classical music written by Keith Jarrett and performed by on solo piano by Dennis Russell Davies which was recorded and released on the ECM label in 1977.

Ritual (Pinner novel)

Ritual is a horror novel by British actor and author David Pinner, first published in 1967.

Ritual (Peter Frohmader album)

Ritual is the second studio album by Peter Frohmader, released in 1986 by Multimood.

Ritual (Delerium song)

"Ritual" is the first Delerium single of their 2016 album Mythologie featuring vocals by Phildel and their first single for Metropolis Records.

Remixes were done by Matt Lange, Alex Klingle, Blush Response and Architect.

Usage examples of "ritual".

The odds were slightly more in favor of mummified alumnae staggering out of the ritual closet than of police thundering down the stairs, but there was little else to do.

Radado formed the western end of a great ancipital migratory route which stretched across the whole of Campannlat, the ultima Thule to which the creatures came in the summer of every Great Year, to go about their unfathomable rituals, or simply to squat motionless, staring across the Cadmer Straits towards Hespagorat, towards a destination unknown to other life forms.

Both the anointing of the live Jesus and the intended anointing of his corpse are ritual acts of great significance, and if nothing else they connect the two women.

Now if there were several ministers in the church, dressed in such gorgeous colors that I could see them at the distance from the apse at which my limited income compels me to sit, and candles were burning, and censers were swinging, and the platform was full of the sacred bustle of a gorgeous ritual worship, and a bell rang to tell me the holy moments, I should not mind the pillar at all.

Every arachnoid still emerged for sexual mating, and also for certain ritual gymnastic exercises.

The assembled circle of red-robed acolytes answered in ritual chant, and a rare metal chime sounded to signal the ending of the morning ceremony.

Instead of scofafing at this primitive ritual, the attendees listened raptly.

The ancient rituals touched the heart, and made the attendees laugh out loud.

But now that this motive has ceased, trine immersion is universally observed in Baptism: and consequently anyone baptizing otherwise would sin gravely, through not following the ritual of the Church.

The exorcist, standing by the bed, took out his pocket ritual and the stole which he put round his neck, then a reliquary, which he placed on the bosom of the sleeping girl, and with the air of a saint he begged all of us to fall on our knees and to pray, so that God should let him know whether the patient was possessed or only labouring under a natural disease.

In a flutelike voice, he sang of the sacred writings, or Vedas, composed well before the first millennium bc, and of the catalogue of magical yajnas, sacrificial formulas, mantras, and rituals that the Vedic religion embodied, and of the many schools, sects, and religions that had developed through the centuries: Sankhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Vaishnavas, Shaivas, Shak-tas, all of which were preached and practised under the separate canopies of Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, which in turn took their impetus from the original Vedic, changing and refining the basic precepts into a multiplicity of separate doctrines : Karma, avatar, samsara, dharma, trimurti, bhakti, maya.

Once at the Birders House, Mavin asked for Mercald and learned that he had been sent to the far end of Topbridge to gather the shed plumes of gong-birds, used by the Birders in their rituals.

On Friday nights, the entire town of Messina waited for the gate to open, then rushed to the bleachers where seats were claimed and nervous pregame rituals were followed.

And his doctors tinkered with parts of the caudate region, trying to ensure that Bobby did not suffer from symptoms relating to obsessive-compulsive disorder which led some people to a need for excessive security, order, predictability and ritual, a need in some circumstances satisfied by the membership of religious communities.

While his assistant performed the censing, the Master Sorcerer stood immobile over the body, a long wand of glittering crystal in each hand, his arms flung wide to provide the psychic umbrella which would protect the corpse from being affected by the magical ritual that John Quetzal was enacting.