tradition

Plural

traditions

1. 1.A part of culture that is passed from person to person or generation to generation, possibly differing in detail from family to family, such as the way to celebrate holidays.

   • After breakfast, Charles Macdoodle told Lady Mary that it was a tradition in the family that those rumbling carriages on the terrace betokened death.
   • Evidently he did not mean to be a mere figurehead, but to carry on the old tradition of Wilsthorpe's; and that was considered to be a good thing in itself and an augury for future prosperity.
   • Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged.

2. 2.A commonly held system.

   • They followed the tradition of lighting candles for special occasions.

3. 3.An established or distinctive style or method

   • Following tradition, the victorious athlete runs a lap around the track.

4. 4.The act of delivering into the hands of another; delivery.

   • A deed takes effect only from this tradition or delivery; for, if the date be false or impossible, the delivery ascertains the time of it.

Overall

Common· #1596

By learning goal

Everyday conversation

Rare

General reading & writing

Common

Academic

Uncommon

Literature

Rare

Synonyms

• custom

Word family

• traditional
• traditionally