n.
- the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.
▸a long-established custom or belief passed on from one generation to another.
- an artistic or literary method or style established by an artist, writer, or movement, and subsequently followed by others.
- (in Christianity) doctrine not explicit in the Bible but held to derive from the oral teaching of Christ and the Apostles.
▸(in Judaism) an ordinance of the oral law not in the Torah but held to have been given by God to Moses.
▸(in Islam) a saying or act ascribed to the Prophet but not recorded in the Koran. See Hadith.
Derivative
- traditionary adj.
- traditionist n.
- traditionless adj.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. tradicion, or from L. traditio(n-), from tradere ‘deliver, betray’, from trans- ‘across’ + dare ‘give’.