Ritual

How to spell ritual

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ritual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ritual mean?

1. nounA set sequence of actions performed regularly in the same way, whether ceremonial or simply habitual.
2. adjectiveRelating to or performed as part of a ceremony or established procedure.

Ritual in a sentence

• noun

  Her morning ritual involved strong coffee and the news.

• adjective

  The priest performed the ritual cleansing before the service.

• noun

  The wedding followed an ancient ritual passed down through the family.

• adjective

  Each meeting opened with the same ritual greeting.

Where does ritual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin ritualis, meaning 'relating to religious rites', which was built on ritus, a noun for a customary or ceremonial observance. The original ritus described an established way of performing sacred acts, and it is the same root that gives us the shorter word 'rite'. English adopted ritual in the late 1500s, first as an adjective describing ceremonies and only later as a noun naming a set procedure performed in a fixed way. Over time the meaning broadened well beyond religion, so that today any habitual, formalised routine can be called a ritual. The spelling keeps the Latin -ual ending intact, and the easily blurred middle vowels (the unstressed 'it-u') are the part that trips writers up.

How the word is built

• rit- (from Latin ritus: religious observance, custom)
• -ual (adjective/noun suffix)