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ritual
has definitions from the field of religion
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[ noun ] any customary observance or practice
Synonyms Used in print (Frank Oppenheimer, "Science and Fear-- A Discussion...)The frequently postulated antique worry that the daylight hours might dwindle to complete darkness apparently gave_rise to a ritual and celebration which we still recognize . Our understanding of the solar_system has taught us to replace our former elaborate rituals with the appropriate action which , in this case , amounts to doing nothing . We have staved_off a war and , since our behavior has involved all these elements , we can only keep adding to our ritual without daring to abandon any part of_it , since we have not the slightest notion which parts are effective . Our inability to explain why certain people are fond of us frequently induces the same kind of ritual and malaise . In agriculture , for_example , despite the advances in biology , elaborate rituals tend to persist along with a continued sense of the imminence of some natural disaster . Related terms custom marriage betrothal rite_of_passage ritual_dancing ritualize |
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[ noun ] (religion) the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies
Used in print (Frank Oppenheimer, "Science and Fear-- A Discussion...)They are in_general those fears that once seemed to have been amenable to prayer or ritual . Yet often fear persists because , even with the most rigid ritual , one is never quite free from the uneasy feeling that one might make some mistake or that in every previous execution one had been unaware of the really decisive act . Our collective policies , group and national , are similarly based on voodoo , but here we often lack even the empirically successful rituals and are still engaged in determining them . (Robert Penn Warren, Wilderness....)Adam watched his own hands make the caressing , anxious movement that , when rain falls and nobody comes , and ruin draws_close like a cat rubbing against the ankles , has been the ritual of stall vendors , forever . Related terms |
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[ adjective ] of or relating to or employed in social rites or rituals
Examples "a ritual dance of Haiti" "sedate little colonial tribe with its ritual tea parties"- Nadine Gordimer |
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[ adjective ] of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals
Examples "ritual killing" Related terms |
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[ noun ] stereotyped behavior
Related terms |
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