Rituals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Customary ceremonies conducted in a precise way for meaningful reasons
2. Established series of actions undertaken regularly for various personal or communal purposes
3. Ceremonial acts performed according to a fixed and symbolic pattern ; habitual sequences of actions done regularly as part of a routine

Etymology: "Rituals" is simply the plural of "ritual," so it is the form of a noun that names a set of fixed, prescribed actions performed in a set order, whether religious, legal or social. The noun "ritual" is itself a borrowing from Latin "rītuālis," an adjective meaning "relating to rites," built from "rītus" ("rite," a ceremonial act) with the suffix "-ālis," which marks something as belonging to or connected with the base. English first used the Latin adjective as a noun in the sense of a book prescribing ceremonies, and the noun later broadened to the actions themselves. The word did not simply replace an English term. Old English had its own words for a customary practice, "ġewuna" and "wuna," and the Latin borrowing displaced them. The older English words survive only in a few places, which is one reason the Latin-derived term now feels so ordinary in everyday speech.

Synonyms: ceremonies, traditions, practices, observances, routines

Antonyms: spontaneity, improvisation, casualness, informality, disorder