Tradition Meaning
/tɹəˈdɪʃ.ən/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA 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.
nounA commonly held system.
Sentence Examples
We must have respect for tradition.
In a past-oriented society, people dwell on the past and on tradition.
This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every year, our family follows the ____ of having a big dinner on New Year's Eve.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is a long-standing ____ in our family to have a large dinner together every Sunday afternoon this year today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tradicioun, from Old French tradicion, from Latin trāditiō, from the verb trādō. Doublet of treason.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"After breakfast, Charles Macdoodle told Lady Mary that it was a tradition in the family that those rumbling carriages on the terrace betokened death."
— 1850, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Tree:
"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."
— 1920, T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”, in The Sacred Wood:
"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."
— 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 2, in Well Tackled!:
"The tradition continues today. Twenty-four-year-old Aziza Tojiyeva, who lives in a small village about 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, learned how to embroider from her mother, Mukhabbat Kuchkarova, who learned from her own grandmother."
— 2024 December 19, Amy Gunia, “Young Uzbeks are finding new markets for traditional handicrafts online”, in CNN Business:
"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."
— 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every year, our family follows the ____ of having a big dinner on New Year's Eve.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is a long-standing ____ in our family to have a large dinner together every Sunday afternoon this year today.