Benediction
A short formal blessing spoken over an audience, usually at a close.
A benediction is a spoken blessing — literally a 'good saying', from the Latin bene dicere. In liturgical use it is the formal blessing that ends a service; in secular use it names any closing utterance that sends people out with goodwill rather than with argument.
Benedictions have a recognisable grammar. They are typically addressed in the second person, phrased as a wish or a subjunctive ('may you...'), rhythmically balanced into two or three clauses, and short enough to be heard once and remembered. That construction is why they are so heavily quoted at weddings, graduations, and funerals.
The form matters for attribution work. Many widely circulated benedictions are traditional rather than authored — the Irish 'May the road rise to meet you' has no verifiable original author despite constant attribution to specific saints and poets. Treat any benediction credited to a famous name with the same scepticism you would apply to a proverb.
Common mistake: writing a benediction as instruction. 'Go and do better' is an order; 'may you find the work that deserves you' is a blessing. The subjunctive is doing the emotional labour, and removing it changes the genre.
“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee.”
Keep reading the glossary
A blessing-formula quotation — 'Blessed are…' — that pronounces good on a class of people or an action.
A short formula of praise — the 'giving of glory' quotation — often used as a fixed closing line.
A quotation deployed as part of a toast — used to open, land, or lend weight to a raised-glass address.
A short text written in memory of a dead person — often inscribed on a tombstone.