recessional

[ ri-sesh-uh-nl ]

adjective

1. of or relating to a recession of the clergy and choir after the service.
2. of or relating to a recess, as of a legislative body.

noun

1. a hymn or other piece of music played at the end of a service while the congregation is filing out.

recessional

/ rɪˈsɛʃənəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to recession

noun

1. a hymn sung as the clergy and choir withdraw from the chancel at the conclusion of a church service

Word History and Origins

Origin of recessional¹

First recorded in 1865–70; recession ¹ + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Now, looming just over history’s horizon are three more imperial crises in Gaza, Taiwan and Ukraine that could cumulatively turn a slow imperial recessional into an all-too-rapid decline, if not collapse.

From Salon

On American networks, anchors remained mercifully silent during the funeral, but the moment the organ music swelled into recessional, they began offering details — that the card on top of the casket was a note from King Charles III — and, in a few cases, commenting on just how long this was all going to take.

From Los Angeles Times

In his recent book, “Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch,” David Mamet mourns the death of “the knowledgeable Broadway audience,” which he associates with the heyday of Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and laments the growing reliance on tourists, who “come to Broadway exactly as they come to Disneyland.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Recessional” isn’t really a book at all but a McBook.

From Washington Post

There’s an essay early in David Mamet’s new book, “Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch,” that offers a tantalizing glimpse of what the book could have been, were the celebrated playwright’s brains not so irradiated by right-wing media and memes.

From Washington Post