ritual killing
1
9.7
- noun
- /ˈrɪtʃuəl ˈkɪlɪŋ/
- Offensive
:
sacrificio ritual
- An animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religious belief.
Examples
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An animal sacrifice is a ritual killing meant to appease the gods of the harvest.
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The change in status that building an independent homestead entails is sometimes marked in Shixini, as in other Xhosa-speaking areas, by the ritual killing of a goat and brewing maize beer.
Academic text (1993) -
The community practiced ritual killing as part of their ancient traditions to honor their ancestors.
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In some cultures, a ritual killing is performed to ensure a good harvest or a successful hunt.
Synonyms
147
5.8
An act of killing an animal or person as an offering in a religious ceremony
How Ceremonial
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a 'ritual killing' is simply a killing performed as part of a ritual, which a learner who knows 'ritual' (ceremonial actions) and 'killing' (act of killing) can infer. This noun+noun pattern and the semantic combination are cross-linguistically common, so the phrase is immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
Ritual killing comes from ceremonies where a ritual was a set of religious actions and the killing of an animal or person was done to 'please' or 'honor' a god, creating a strong image of a deliberate, ceremonial death. That's why today the phrase means a killing done as part of a religion or ceremony.