Definition of "votive" []

• Given or dedicated in fulfillment of a vow or pledge: a votive offering. (adjective)
• Expressing or symbolizing a wish, desire, or vow: a votive prayer; votive candles. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Mr. GOUREVITCH: That is a votive object from the Narob Bwea church; in other words, a votive statute of a church figure that would have been at the back of this Catholic church."
• "Plays given in fulfilment of vows thus made were called votive games."
• "Book III (Prayers and the Canon for Sundays) contains a great number of Masses marked simply "For Sunday" (i.e. any Sunday), the Canon of the Mass, what we should call votive Masses (e.g. for travellers, in time of trouble, for kings, and so on), Masses for the Dead, some blessings"