rite

religious ceremony; ceremonial act: marriage rite

Not to be confused with:

right – correct; proper; just; appropriate: the right way

rite

(rīt)

1. The prescribed or customary form for conducting a religious or other solemn ceremony: the rite of baptism.

2. A ceremonial act or series of acts: fertility rites.

3. Rite The liturgy or practice of a branch of the Christian church.

[Middle English, from Latin rītus; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

rite

(raɪt)

1. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a formal act or procedure prescribed or customary in religious ceremonies: fertility rites; the rite of baptism.

2. (Other Non-Christian Religions) a formal act or procedure prescribed or customary in religious ceremonies: fertility rites; the rite of baptism.

3. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a particular body of such acts or procedures, esp of a particular Christian Church: the Latin rite.

4. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a Christian Church: the Greek rite.

[C14: from Latin rītus religious ceremony]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

rite

(raɪt)

n.

1. a formal ceremony or procedure prescribed or customary in religious or other solemn use.

2. a particular form or system of religious or ceremonial practice: the Scottish rite in Freemasonry.

3. (sometimes cap.) a liturgy or liturgical system: the Byzantine rite.

4. (sometimes cap.) a division of a Christian church based on differences in liturgical practice.

5. any customary observance or practice.

[1275–1325; Middle English (< Old French rit(e)) < Latin rītus]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	rite - an established ceremony prescribed by a religion; "the rite of baptism" religious rite religious ceremony, religious ritual - a ceremony having religious meaning vigil, watch - the rite of staying awake for devotional purposes (especially on the eve of a religious festival) last rites - rites performed in connection with a death or burial circumcision - the act of circumcising performed on males eight days after birth as a Jewish and Muslim religious rite liturgy - a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship office - a religious rite or service prescribed by ecclesiastical authorities; "the offices of the mass"
	2.	rite - any customary observance or practice ritual custom, usage, usance - accepted or habitual practice ceremonial dance, ritual dance, ritual dancing - a dance that is part of a religious ritual betrothal, espousal - the act of becoming betrothed or engaged marriage ceremony, wedding, marriage - the act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony; "their marriage was conducted in the chapel" rite of passage - a ritual performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes status (as from adolescence to adulthood)

rite

noun ceremony, custom, ritual, act, service, form, practice, procedure, mystery, usage, formality, ceremonial, communion, ordinance, observance, sacrament, liturgy, solemnity a fertility rite

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

rite

noun

A formal act or set of acts prescribed by ritual:

ceremonial, ceremony, liturgy, observance, office, ritual, service.

Translations

طَقْس، إحْتِفال

obřadrituál

=-ceremoniceremoniriteritus

آیین

ceremóniarítusszertartás

ritusupacara

helgiathöfn

rito rituale usanza cerimonia estrema unzione

apeiginisapeigosritualasritualinis

ceremonija

rite

rito

обряд

rit

âyintören

宗教仪式

rite

[raɪt]

A. N → rito m; (= funeral rites) → exequias fpl
"The Rite of Spring" → "La Consagración de la Primavera"
see also last A3

B. CPD rite of passage N → rito m de paso, rito m de tránsito
see also rite(s)-of-passage

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

rite

[ˈraɪt] n → rite m
rite of passage → rite m initiatique last rites

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

rite

n → Ritus m; burial rites → Bestattungsriten pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

rite

[raɪt] n → rito (Rel) the last rites → l'estrema unzione fsg
rite of passage → rito di passaggio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

rite

(rait) noun

a solemn ceremony, especially a religious one. marriage rites.

ritual (ˈritʃuəl) noun

(a particular set of) traditional or fixed actions etc used in a religious etc ceremony. Christian rituals; the ritual of the Roman Catholic church.

adjective

forming (part of) a ritual or ceremony. a ritual dance/sacrifice.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

let the burial rite be read - the funeral song be sung!

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In the case of Orestes, for example, there is the madness which led to his capture, and his deliverance by means of the purificatory rite. In the drama, the episodes are short, but it is these that give extension to Epic poetry.

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CHORUS Religion has her chains, 'tis true, Let rite be paid when rites are due.

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Preparatory to the chase, they performed some religious rites, and offered up to the Great Spirit a few short prayers for safety and success; then, having received the blessings of their wives, they leaped upon their horses and departed, leaving the whole party of Christian spectators amazed and rebuked by this lesson of faith and dependence on a supreme and benevolent Being.

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Shortly afterwards the Idol's worshippers held a great religious ceremony at the base of his pedestal, and as a part of the rites the Missionary was roasted whole.

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If, I say, while these sacred rites, which are in common to genus omne animantium, are in agitation between the stag and his mistress, any hostile beasts should venture too near, on the first hint given by the frighted hind, fierce and tremendous rushes forth the stag to the entrance of the thicket; there stands he centinel over his love, stamps the ground with his foot, and with his horns brandished aloft in air, proudly provokes the apprehended foe to combat.

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There exists a monition of the Bishop of Durham against irregular churchmen of this class, who associated themselves with Border robbers, and desecrated the holiest offices of the priestly function, by celebrating them for the benefit of thieves, robbers, and murderers, amongst ruins and in caverns of the earth, without regard to canonical form, and with torn and dirty attire, and maimed rites, altogether improper for the occasion.

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"It is a part of the monthly rites of Issus," he replied, "in which black men wash the sins from their souls in the blood of men from the outer world.

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This opinion appears to me without any better foundation than another of the conversion of the Abyssins to the Jewish rites by the Queen of Sheba, at her return from the court of Solomon.

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The causes of superstition are: pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies; excess of outward and pharisaical holiness; overgreat reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church; the stratagems of prelates, for their own ambition and lucre; the favoring too much of good intentions, which openeth the gate to conceits and novelties; the taking an aim at divine matters, by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations: and, lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities and disasters.

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In the center of the amphitheater was one of those strange earthen drums which the anthropoids build for the queer rites the sounds of which men have heard in the fastnesses of the jungle, but which none has ever witnessed.

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Small sticks burned by the Chinese in their pagan tomfoolery, in imitation of certain sacred rites of our holy religion.

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