ritualism Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the study of religious or magical rites and ceremonies
  2. noun exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or ritualistic forms in worship

WordNet

Rit"u*al*ism noun
Etymology
Cf. F. ritualisme.
Definitions
  1. A system founded upon a ritual or prescribed form of religious worship; adherence to, or observance of, a ritual.
  2. Specifically :(a) The principles and practices of those in the Church of England, who in the development of the Oxford movement, so-called, have insisted upon a return to the use in church services of the symbolic ornaments (altar cloths, encharistic vestments, candles, etc.) that were sanctioned in the second year of Edward VI., and never, as they maintain, forbidden by competennt authority, although generally disused. Schaff-Herzog Encyc. (b) Also, the principles and practices of those in the Protestant Episcopal Church who sympathize with this party in the Church of England.

Webster 1913