religion
/ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.74 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief.
Uncountable
noun
Rituals and actions associated with religious beliefs, but considered apart from them.
Informal; Uncountable
verb
Indoctrinate into a specific religion.
Example Sentences
- "Holonyms: cosmology, ontology, epistemology, philosophy"
- "My brother tends to value religion, but my sister not as much."
- "Most books on the philosophy of religion try to begin with a precise definition of what its essence consists of. […] I shall not be pedantic enough to enumerate any of them to you now. Meanwhile the very fact that they are so many and so different from one another is enough to prove that the word “religion” cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather a collective name."
- "Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness."
- "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather, religion is the form spirituality takes in a civilization; it is not so much the opiate of the masses as it is the antidote for the poisons of civilization."
- "Near-synonyms: credo, creed"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *léǵeti Proto-Italic *legō Latin legō Latin relegōder.? ▲ Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ-der. Latin ligō Latin religōder.? Proto-Indo-European *-ōder. Proto-Indo-European *-Hōder.? Latin -ō Latin -iō Latin religiōbor. Old French religionbor. Middle English religioun English religion From Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religiō (“scrupulousness, pious misgivings, superstition, conscientiousness, sanctity, an object of veneration, cult-observance, reverence”). Most likely from the Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg- with the meanings preserved in Latin dīligere and legere (“to read repeatedly”, “to have something solely in mind”). Displaced Old English ǣfæstnes (“religion, lawfulness”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ən/
- British English: /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ən/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Religion.