Tradition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /trəˈdɪʃ.É™n/, enPR: trÉ™-dish′n
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Origin

From Latin trāditiō (""), from the verb trādere ("").

Full definition of tradition

Noun

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.
• 1920, T. S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood Chapter S:The Sacred Wood/Tradition and the Individual Talent, 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.
• 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, Well Tackled! Chapter 2, 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.
• 1850, Charles Dickens, S:A Christmas Tree, After breakfast, Charles Macdoodle told Lady Mary that it was a tradition in the family that those rumbling carriages on the terrace betokened death.
2. A commonly held system.
3. The act of delivering into the hands of another; delivery.
• BlackstoneA deed takes effect only from the tradition or delivery.

Derived terms

• traditional
• traditionally
• traditionalism

Synonyms

• (a commonly held system) doctrine

Verb

1. (obsolete) To transmit by way of tradition; to hand down.
• FullerThe following story is ... traditioned with very much credit amongst our English Catholics.