Other forms: traditions
A tradition is something a family or a place has done the same way for so long that nobody remembers starting it. Fish on Friday; the same seat at the same table; the neighbour who has switched his lights on at the same hour every December for thirty years.
You keep a tradition, follow one, break one, or start one, and the phrases run by tradition, in the tradition of, a long tradition of. The adjective traditional does heavy work: traditional music, traditional dress, a traditional recipe. The word also names a whole body of practice and thought with history behind it — the Anglican tradition, the tradition of the English novel. Traditionally means the way it has always been done, and it hides an argument, because we have always done it this way is a reason and an excuse at the same time. A tradition is not a habit: a habit is yours alone, a tradition is shared and handed on.
1nountraditionA custom or belief passed down within a family or community over a long time.~45%
“Opening one present on Christmas Eve is a family tradition.”
synonyms: custom, convention
2nounestablishedA long-established body of practice or belief in an art, religion, or field of thought.~55%
“He writes in the tradition of the great travel writers.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 22 sentences found in the wild and placed 22 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
tradition is a custom.
Also accepted in games: custom
Tradition came through Middle English tradicioun and Old French tradicion from Latin trāditiō, a noun built on the verb trādō. The same Latin word travelled into English a second time by another road and came out as treason. Tradition and treason are one word wearing two coats.
Proto-Indo-European
*deh₃-
Middle English
tradicioun
English, today
tradition
From Middle English tradicioun. From Middle English tradicioun, from Old French tradicion, from Latin trāditiō, from the verb trādō. a doublet of treason.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA