1. To make a ceremony of or put in the form of a ceremony: The Christian service ritualizes the Last Supper in the Eucharist.

2. To put into a prescribed and socially acceptable form or order: "Sport ritualizes aggression and allows it to be linked with competitive achievement" (David Whitson).

3. Zoology To cause (behavior) to have the form of a ritual: courtship behavior that has become ritualized.