Meaning & use
rite
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Meanings
nouncountableformalreligion
A formal set of actions and words performed in a fixed way, usually at a religious or traditional ceremony.
Grammar: Often found in phrases like funeral rites; plural is common when several acts are performed.
Patterns
- perform a rite
- the rites of something
The priest performed the ancient rite at sunrise.
Funeral rites differ widely between cultures.
The village still observes a harvest rite each autumn.
nouncountablefigurative
A social custom or event that marks an important stage of life or a period of time.
Grammar: Often used with a describing word: a rite of passage.
Patterns
- a rite of passage
- a rite of something
Getting a driver's license is a rite of passage for teenagers.
The graduation parade is an annual rite.
Picking out a Halloween costume became a family rite.
Word forms
| plural | rites |
|---|
Common combinations
- rite of passage
- The first day of high school is a rite of passage.
- funeral rites
- Funeral rites were held at the family's home.
- religious rite
- The festival includes a religious rite at the temple.
- last rites
- The priest gave the dying man the last rites.
- ancient rite
- Archaeologists described an ancient rite carved on the stones.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ceremony
- Ceremony is the broader event, while a rite is one fixed set of actions within it or the tradition itself.
- ritual
- Ritual often means the repeated routine itself, whereas rite points to a specific formal occasion.
- custom
- Custom is any traditional habit, not necessarily formal or religious as a rite is.
- observance
- Observance stresses keeping a religious practice or day, and is more abstract than rite.
Word family
- ritual noun
- a fixed set of actions performed regularly
- ritualistic adjective
- done like a ritual, in a fixed repetitive way
- ritually adverb
- in the manner of a ritual
- ritualize verb
- to make something into a ritual
Commonly confused: rite or right? rite or write?
rite vs right
Right means correct, opposite of left, or an entitlement; it sounds identical to rite but is spelled differently.
rite vs write
Write means to put words on paper, and is another word pronounced the same as rite.
Practice
Which spelling completes the sentence? 'Learning to swim is a ____ of passage in our town.'
Choose one answer.
A rite of passage is a ceremony or event marking a stage of life. The other words are homophones with different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rite”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.