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Glite Dictionary
🎶 Exit music ↩️ Moving backward 🚶‍♂️ Ceremonial exit
recessional

recessional

8.5
Church leaders and choir leave the front at the end of a service
  • noun
  • /rɪˈsɛʃənl/
  • Jargon
translation icon : salida
  • The congregation stood quietly as the recessional made its way down the aisle.

Examples

  • After the final hymn, the recessional marked the conclusion of the Sunday service.

  • The choir sang a beautiful recessional after the service.

  • The choir rehearsed the recessional to ensure a smooth and dignified exit.

  • During the recessional, the congregation stood quietly.

  • The choir sang a beautiful hymn during the recessional as they left the church.

  • As the recessional began, the congregation stood to watch the clergy exit the sanctuary.

  • During the recessional, the pastor led the way from the altar to the vestry.

Synonyms

recession
vsrecessional
  • Jargon
8.0

The movement of the church leaders and choir out of the front at the end of a service

is the same action but framed as ceremonial rather than formal

Antonyms

processional
  • Formal
2 7.9

Used for a formal walk of people in a ceremony

Compounds

recessional march
  • Jargon
6.8

A piece of music that people play while they leave a formal ceremony like a wedding

Surface Forms

recessional singular
recessionals plural

Morphology

recessional = recessional (semi-transparent) = recess + ional

The noun is a converted use of the adjective 'recessional', but the church-service sense is a specialized conventionalized use.

Etymology

The word recessional comes from the parts re- 'back' and cedere 'to go', the same idea you see in recede and recession. So a church recessional is the formal 'going back' or withdrawal of the clergy and choir at the end of the service.