Thesaurus results for RITES

rites

noun

plural of rite

as in rituals

an oft-repeated action or series of actions performed in accordance with tradition or a set of rules the annual summer rite of loading up the car for the big family vacation

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of rites He was visited by a priest on Monday, May 4, who performed the last rites. —

Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 9 May 2026 The university's Bangladesh Student Association has served as a liaison, asking the institution for help preserving Limon's remains in accordance with Islamic rites. —

Mirna Alsharif, NBC news, 28 Apr. 2026 The world may have been upended by the war and the ink has barely dried on the Treaty of Versailles, but the society doyennes are doing their darnedest to return to the rituals and rites that used to govern our days. —

Danielle Parker, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2026 Celebrating love is universal, but the exact rites and rituals vary. —

Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 11 Apr. 2026 The siting of the rites at the Colosseum—where it has been held since 1964, echoing a practice from the eighteenth century—means that the Pope enacts Jesus’ final hours not in a Baroque basilica but against the backdrop of the Roman Empire, which exercised power through violence. —

Paul Elie, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2026 Freedom to hold religious rites in Jerusalem must be ensured for all religions. —

Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2026 One of the central pillars of the American dream is becoming increasingly decoupled from the other key rites of adulthood. —

Jake Angelo, Fortune, 25 Mar. 2026 Of these, Anglicans traditionally hold only baptism and the Eucharist as sacraments instituted by Christ and regard the others as sacramental rites. —

Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rites

Noun

Critics also felt the depiction of the 'Guryu Myeonryugwan' crown (a traditional royal headpiece historically associated with vassal state rituals) was incorrect.

— Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
Much of the film is set in and around a Parisian elder-care facility, and Hamaguchi guides us through its rooms and hallways, its meetings and rituals, with a patience and passionate granularity worthy of the late documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 18 May 2026