Superstition

//ˌs(j)u.pɚˈstɪ.ʃən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A belief or beliefs, not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, that events may be influenced by one's behavior in some magical or mystical way. countable, uncountable

    "What children we are in trifles! what slight things exercise an influence over us! to how much that our reason would be ashamed to acknowledge! nevertheless does it submit. Our whole nature must change; we must be less susceptible, less dependent on "blind accident," before we can shake off hopes and fears, which are almost superstitions."

  2. 2
    an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear wordnet
  3. 3
    Excessive nicety; overscrupulousness. archaic, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
charmfolklorelorereligionspellsuperstitious notion

Example

More examples

"Such a ridiculous superstition no longer exists."

Etymology

From Middle French superstition, from Latin superstitio.

Related phrases

Superstition Mountainssub-superstition

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