religion

1. (uncountable) Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief.Examples: "Holonyms: cosmology, ontology, epistemology, philosophy"; "My brother tends to value religion, but my sister not as much."; "Most books on the philosophy of religion try to begin with a precise definition of what its essence consists of. […] I shall not be pedantic enough to enumerate any of them to you now. Meanwhile the very fact that they are so many and so different from one another is enough to prove that the word “religion” cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather a collective name."Synonyms: theism, ;, faith, ;, beliefAntonyms: nonreligion, nonreligiousness, ;, nonbelief, unbelief, ;, irreligion, irreligiousnessuncountable

2. (countable) A particular system of such belief, and the rituals and practices proper to it.Examples: "Holonyms: cosmology, ontology, epistemology, philosophy"; "Near-synonyms: credo, creed"; "Islam is a major religion, particularly in North Africa and Southwest Asia."Synonyms: faithcountable

3. (uncountable) The way of life committed to by monks and nuns.Examples: "The monk entered religion when he was 20 years of age."uncountable

4. (uncountable, informal) Rituals and actions associated with religious beliefs, but considered apart from them.Examples: "I think some Christians would love Jesus more if they weren't so stuck in religion."; "Jack's spiritual, but he's not really into religion."Synonyms: superstitioninformaluncountable

5. (countable) Any practice to which someone or some group is seriously devoted.Examples: "At this point, Star Trek has really become a religion."; "'Religion can't exist without mystery, especially science, the newest religion.'"countable

6. (uncountable, obsolete) Faithfulness to a given principle; conscientiousness.Examples: "Oh with what religion doe I respect and observe the same!"obsoleteuncountable