ritualize
Turn into ceremony
To ritualize something is to make it into a ritual—a formalized, repeated practice with symbolic significance.
The term applies both to deliberate efforts to add ceremony or structure to an activity and to the natural process by which behaviors become fixed patterns.
Anthropologists might describe how cultures ritualize transitions like marriage or death, while psychologists note how individuals ritualize daily routines for comfort.
Some families ritualize Sunday dinners as a way to stay connected.
Formal worship structure
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- processionFormal moving line
- consecrationDedicating to sacred purpose
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
benediction · ordination · vestments · altar · incense · chanting · sanctuary · offertory
Organize into formal rules
- standardizeMake things match norms
- institutionalizeEstablish as norm
- systematizeArrange into ordered structure
- prescribeOfficially recommend treatment
establish · structure · normalize · conventionalize · regulate · legitimize · enact · ratify
Repeated focus phrase
- meditationFocused attention practice
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
shaman · oracle · exorcism · totem · amulet · taboo · fetish · sacrificial
Inherited cultural legacy
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- loreTraditional knowledge transmitted orally
legends · lineage · heirlooms · cultural · mythology · taboos · superstitions · clan
Regular sequence of actions
- ingrainedFirmly established by habit
- repetitiveMarked by recurrence
- compulsiveUnable to stop oneself
- automaticOperating without intervention
patterned · conditioned · habitual · regularity · obsessive · mechanical · entrenched · daily
liturgy
Formal worship structure
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- processionFormal moving line
- consecrationDedicating to sacred purpose
invocation · benediction · ordination · vestments · altar · incense · chanting · sanctuary · offertory · matrimony
codify
Organize into formal rules
- standardizeMake things match norms
- institutionalizeEstablish as norm
- systematizeArrange into ordered structure
prescribe · establish · structure · normalize · conventionalize · regulate · legitimize · enact · ratify · sanction
mantra
Repeated focus phrase
- meditationFocused attention practice
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
divination · shaman · oracle · exorcism · totem · amulet · taboo · fetish · sacrificial · propitiation
heritage
Inherited cultural legacy
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
lore · legends · lineage · heirlooms · cultural · mythology · taboos · superstitions · clan · tribe
routine
Regular sequence of actions
- ingrainedFirmly established by habit
- repetitiveMarked by recurrence
- compulsiveUnable to stop oneself
automatic · patterned · conditioned · habitual · regularity · obsessive · mechanical · entrenched · daily · nightly
ritualizeinformalize
Make less formal
casualize · secularize · profane · normalize · routinize
ritualizeneglect
Failure to provide care
abandon · disregard · ignore · trivialize · discontinue
ritualizeimprovise
Perform without preparation
ad-lib · informalize · casualize · extemporize · wing it
- ritualistic murderCeremonial taking of life
- ritualistic sacrificeCeremonial killing for divine favor
- ritualistic behaviorFormalized, repetitive symbolic actions
ritualistic, ritualism, ritualized, ritualizing, ritualization, ritualizes, ritualised, ritualise