Consuetude

//ˈkɒnswɪtjuːd// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Custom, familiarity. countable, rare, uncountable

    "“the stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude; let thy reformation be cautious, as it is just and wise.”"

  2. 2
    a custom or usage that has acquired the force of law wordnet

Example

More examples

"“the stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude; let thy reformation be cautious, as it is just and wise.”"

Etymology

From Middle English consuetude, from Middle French consuetude, from Old French consuetude, learnedly borrowed from Latin cōnsuētūdō. Doublet of costume, custom, and kastom.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.