# religion

Pronunciation: say "ri-LIJ-uhn" /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒən/

## Noun

1. A specific organized system of spiritual belief, together with the rituals and practices that belong to it.
   - Simple: One organized system of spiritual belief, with its own rituals and practices.
   - _Islam is a major world religion with over a billion followers._
   - _The country officially recognizes several religions and protects them equally under the law._
2. Belief in a spiritual reality, often including one or more gods, together with the worship, rituals, and practices that go with it.
   - Simple: Belief in God, gods, or a spiritual world, and the worship and practices that go with it.
   - _Religion plays a central role in how many communities mark birth, marriage, and death._
   - _Some people find meaning through religion, others through philosophy or art._
3. Any activity or practice to which a person or group is so seriously devoted that it resembles a faith.
   - Simple: An activity that a person or group cares about so deeply it is almost like a faith.
   - _In this town, high school football is practically a religion._
   - _My grandmother made a religion of Sunday dinner, and nobody in the family dared to skip it._
4. The field of scholarship that examines the beliefs, rituals and traditions of the world's faiths.
   - Simple: A subject at school or college about what people of different faiths believe and do.
   - _He earned a doctorate in religion before teaching at a small liberal arts college._
   - _The college's religion department offers courses on Buddhism, Islam and early Christianity._
5. The way of life of vows and devotion that monks and nuns commit themselves to.
   - Simple: The life of prayer and strict rules that monks and nuns choose to follow.
   - _He left the family business to enter religion as a Benedictine monk._
   - _Life in religion meant rising before dawn for prayer every single day._

## Noun

6. Faithfulness and conscientiousness in keeping to a given principle. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Strong loyalty to a rule or duty, carried out carefully every time.

## Verb

7. To engage in religious practice or worship. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To take part in religious worship or practice.
8. To instruct or indoctrinate someone into a specific faith. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To teach someone the beliefs of a faith until they fully accept it.
9. To make something sacred or symbolic; to sanctify. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To make something holy or give it sacred meaning.

## Origin

It came into Middle English from Old French religion, from Latin religiō, meaning scrupulousness, conscientiousness, reverence, or an object of veneration. The deeper origin of religiō is disputed, with old proposals linking it to relegere ('to go over again') or religare ('to bind'), and the word replaced the Old English ǣfæstnes.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/religion (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).