religion
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality, accompanied by practices or rituals about the belief.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rihlijuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹɪˈlɪdʒən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief.
countable
A particular system of such belief, and the rituals and practices proper to it.
An institution to express belief in a divine power
“He was raised in the Baptist religion.”
countable
Any practice to which someone or some group is seriously devoted.
uncountable
The way of life committed to by monks and nuns.
uncountableinformal
Rituals and actions associated with religious beliefs, but considered apart from them.
verb
Engage in religious practice.
To make sacred or symbolic; sanctify.
Indoctrinate into a specific religion.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief.
Used this way, religion is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Formal and ceremonial
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use religion
- “He was raised in the Baptist religion.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Jews collectively who practice a religion based on the Torah and the Talmud.
A person authorized to conduct religious worship.
An institution to express belief in a divine power.
Any of various religions other than Christianity or Judaism or Islamism.
Any fundamentalist Protestant Church that uses revivalistic methods to achieve experiences comparable to the Pentecostal experiences of the first Christian disciples.
A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- catholicismnoun
- religiousadjective
- christianitynoun
- faithnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: belief in a spiritual
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.