Home › Glossary › Letter R

rites

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Religious or ceremonial acts, especially those performed for a funeral or other solemn occasion.

Detailed Definition
In older or formal English, rites are prescribed ceremonies or observances, often connected with religion, burial, or public ritual. In this poem, the speaker says, “I want no rites,” meaning no formal funeral ceremonies are needed.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I want no rites in a gloom filled room,” rejects formal funeral observance; rites are prescribed ceremonial acts, especially religious or burial customs; Gray’s “Elegy” imagines “the rude forefathers of the hamlet” receiving humble remembrance; “we made our own rites with candles and names” modernizes ritual
Additional Notes
The word appears in the funeral context of “I want no rites,” and its ceremonial sense may be less familiar than the everyday words around it.; Found in the poem, Let Me Go by Christina Rossetti
Also Known As
ceremonies observances rituals traditions
Skip to main content