definition of tradition essay

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of tradition

• prescription

Examples of tradition in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tradition.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English tradicioun , from Middle French & Latin; Middle French tradicion , from Latin tradition-, traditio action of handing over, tradition — more at treason

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing tradition

• carry on the tradition
• counter - tradition
• oral tradition
• steeped in tradition

Articles Related to tradition

Tulip/Turban, Cloak/Clock, & 8...

Tulip/Turban, Cloak/Clock, & 8 Other Doublets

When two words come from the same source

Dictionary Entries Near tradition

trading stamp

traditional

Cite this Entry

“Tradition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tradition. Accessed 9 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of tradition.

Middle English tradicioun "tradition," from early French tradicion (same meaning) and Latin tradition-, traditio "the action of handing over, tradition," — related to treason see Word History at treason

Legal Definition

Legal definition of tradition.

French, legal transfer

More from Merriam-Webster on tradition

Nglish: Translation of tradition for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of tradition for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about tradition

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

More commonly misspelled words, your vs. you're: how to use them correctly, every letter is silent, sometimes: a-z list of examples, more commonly mispronounced words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), popular in wordplay, 12 star wars words, a great big list of bread words, 10 scrabble words without any vowels, 8 uncommon words related to love, 9 superb owl words, games & quizzes.

• Theoretical / Philosophical Paper
• Published: 09 October 2013
• Volume 36 , pages 451–470, ( 2013 )

Cite this article

• Yaacov Yadgar 1  

1189 Accesses

11 Citations

Explore all metrics

Noting the prevalence of a misguided suspicion towards tradition, as well as an overt misunderstanding of the very notion of tradition in certain academic circles, this essay seeks to outline some of the basic tenets of an alternative understanding of tradition, based on a ‘sociological’ reading of several major philosophical works. It does so by revisiting and synthesizing some well-known, highly influential conceptual arguments that, taken together, offer a compelling, comprehensive interpretation and understanding of tradition, which manages to avoid and overcome the false dichotomies that have dominated social-scientific thought. The article offers three corresponding analogies that capture the complex nature of tradition: tradition as language, tradition as narrative, and tradition as horizon. It then goes on to discuss the main implications these analogies carry to our understanding of tradition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Decolonizing the Anthropocene

Religions and Ideologies

Vedānta: A Survey of Recent Scholarship (II)

“To return to things themselves [i.e., phenomenology] is to return to that world which precedes knowledge, of which knowledge always speaks , and in relation to which every scientific schematization is an abstract and derivative sign-language, as is geography in relation to the country-side in which we have learnt beforehand what a forest, a prairie or a river is.

[Phenomenology] is absolutely distinct from the idealist return to consciousness, and the [phenomenological] demand for a pure description excludes equally the procedure of analytical reflection on the one hand, and that of scientific explanation on the other. Descartes and particularly Kant detached the subject, or consciousness, by showing that I could not possibly apprehend anything as existing unless I first of all experienced myself as existing in the act of apprehending it. They presented consciousness, the absolute certainty of my existence for myself, as the condition of there being anything at all…; the unity of consciousness in Kant is achieved simultaneously with that of the world. And in Descartes methodical doubt does not deprive us of anything, since the whole world, at least in so far as we experience it, is reinstated in the Cogito , enjoying equal certainty, and simply labeled ‘thought of’ … But the relations between subject and world are not strictly bilateral…” (Merleau-Ponty 2002 : ixf.)

In Mark Bevir’s terminology, this position is especially prevalent among ‘strong empiricists’:

“Empiricists generally argue that people arrive at webs of belief as a result of pure experiences. This would suggest that the historian can explain why people held the beliefs they did by reference to their experiences alone: the historian needs to consider only the circumstances in which people find themselves, not the ways in which they construct or interpret their circumstances through the traditions they inherit” ( 2000 : 30).

Such as the dialogue on tradition between Mark Bevir and Bruce Frohnen (a debate instigated by Bevir’s work on the history of ideas): Bevir 2000 ; Frohnen 2001 ; Bevir 1999 .

The literature here is immense, and cannot be captured in a footnote. Two of the more recent contributions to the field offer an overview of the vastness and heterogeneity of the arguments commonly put under the title of ‘post-secularism,’ and can function as a gateway to the wider field (Mendieta and VanAntwerpen 2011 ; Calhoun et al. 2011 ).

Cookery has been one of the oft-used examples in the ongoing intellectual discourse on tradition, mainly because it manages to capture nicely both the superiority of practice over intellectual knowledge (think of the cook who has learned to cook by standing next to—and accepting the authority of- an experienced master, versus the inexperienced ‘cook’ who is trying to follow a cookbook’s instructions). In a similar vein, cookery can also exemplify my point here: think of all the ways in which a certain cook, who is immersed in a certain culinary culture and practice—i.e., tradition -- would never even think of cooking a certain dish, while those very same ways are the most obvious ways in which another cook, coming from another culinary tradition, would handle the same dish (preparing and serving raw meet dishes in certain kitchens versus the practical impossibility of doing the same in others is just one example that springs to mind in this regard). Needless to say, this is not limited to culinary traditions.

Interestingly, some of the more vehement opponents of such a codification of tradition into a doctrine – a constitution, in this case – are religious scholars of the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Egypt. As a recent report notes, leading scholars in Al-Azhar, the most authoritative religious institution in Suni Islam, prefer Egypt’s new constitution to preserve phrasing from the state’s former constitution, which placed the ‘principles’ of  sharia  as the main source of legislation. This, while hard-line ‘Salafists,’ want the new constitution to declare either ‘the rules of  sharia ,’ or simply sharia , as the main source of legislation: “Al-Azhar has even blocked a push by Salafists, a puritan strand of Islam that won a quarter of votes in last year’s parliamentary elections, to enshrine al-Azhar itself as the sole authority for interpreting  sharia . Secular critics fear that al-Azhar’s current, relatively liberal tendency could change, and see this push as a dangerous step towards creating an Iranian-style theocracy. Many of the university’s own clerics agree, noting that Sunni Islam accepts four rival traditions of law, so denying the notion of a single reference” ( The Economist , 6 October, 2012).

As MacIntyre ( 1988 : 12) puts it:

A tradition is an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental agreements are defined and redefined in terms of two kinds of conflict: those with critics and enemies external to the tradition who reject all or at least parts of those fundamental agreements, and those internal, interpretative debates through which the meaning and rationale of the fundamental agreements come to be expressed and by whose progress a tradition is constituted.

I am indebted to the anonymous readers of my original manuscript for this rendition of the Gadamerian argument.

At least according to MacIntyre’s critical reading of Burke and Kuhn and to Gadamer’s criticism of romanticism (MacIntyre 2006 : 2–23; MacIntyre 1984 : 221–2; Gadamer 1989 : 282).

Baldacchino, J. (1983). The value-centered historicism of Edmund Burke. Modern Age 27 (2), 139–145.

Google Scholar  

Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge . Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.

Bernstein, R. J. (1983). Beyond objectivism and relativism: Science, hermeneutics, and praxis . Oxford: B. Blackwell.

Bevir, M. (1999). The logic of the history of ideas . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bevir, M. (2000). On tradition. Humanitas XIII, 2 , 28–53.

Byrne, W. F. (2011). Edmund Burke for our time: Moral imagination, meaning, and politics . DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.

Calhoun, C. J., Juergensmeyer, M., & VanAntwerpen, J. (Eds.). (2011). Rethinking secularism . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Descartes, R. (2008). Meditations on first philosophy (Trans. E. S. Haldane). Central, Hong Kong: Forgotten Books.

Douglas, M. (1986). How institutions think . New York: Syracuse University Press.

Eisenstadt, S. N. (1972). Intellectuals and tradition. Daedalus, 101 (2), 1–19.

Eisenstadt, S. N. (1973). Tradition, change, and modernity . New York: Wiley.

Eliot, T. S. (1920). The sacred wood: Essays on poetry and criticism . London: Methuen & Co. LTD.

Frohnen, B. (2001). Tradition, habit, and social interaction: A response to Mark Bevir. Humanitas XIV, 1 , 108–116.

Gadamer, H.-G. (1976). Philosophical hermeneutics . Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gadamer, H.-G. (1979). The problem of historical consciousness. In P. Rabinow & W. M. Sullivan (Eds.), Interpretive social science: A reader (pp. 103–162). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gadamer, H.-G. (1989). Truth and method (2nd ed.). New York: Crossroad.

Geertz, C. (1968). Islam observed. Religious development in Morocco and Indonesia . The Terry Lectures v. 37. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Selected essays . New York: Basic Books.

Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kuhn, T. S. (1977). The essential tension: Selected studies in scientific tradition and change . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Latour, B. (1988). Review of: How institutions think. By Mary Douglas. Contemporary Sociology, 17 (3):383–385. doi: 10.2307/2069673 .

MacIntyre, A. (1984). After virtue: A study in moral theory (2nd ed.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

MacIntyre, A. (1988). Whose justice? Which rationality? . Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

MacIntyre, A. (1991). Three rival versions of moral enquiry: Encyclopaedia, genealogy, and tradition . Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

MacIntyre, A. (2006). The tasks of philosophy: Volume 1: Selected essays . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Mendieta, E., & VanAntwerpen, J. (Eds.). (2011). The power of religion in the public sphere . Columbia: Columbia University Press.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of perception (Trans. C. Smith). Routledge Classics. London: Routledge.

Oakeshott, M. (1962). Rationalism in politics and other essays . New York: Basic Books.

Polanyi, M. (1946). Science, faith and society . London: Oxford University Press.

Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal knowledge; Towards a post-critical philosophy . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rabinow, P. (1975). Symbolic domination; Cultural form and historical change in Morocco . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rorty, R. (1979). Philosophy and the mirror of nature . Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Shils, E. (1958). Tradition and liberty: Antinomy and interdependence. Ethics, 68 (3), 153–165.

Article   Google Scholar  

Shils, E. (1981). Tradition . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Taylor, C. (1971). Interpretation and the sciences of man. The Review of Metaphysics, 25 (1), 3–51.

Taylor, C. (1985a). Philosophy and the human sciences, Vol. 2. Philosophical Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Taylor, C. (1985b). Human agency and language, Vol. 1. Philosophical Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Taylor, C. (1992). The ethics of authenticity . Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Taylor, C. (1995). Philosophical arguments . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Vattimo, G. (2012). Democracy and hermeneutics. Telos, 161 , 9–15. doi: 10.3817/1212161009 .

Wittgenstein, L. (1968). Philosophical investigations (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Wittgenstein, L. (1969). On certainty . New York: Harper.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan University, 52900, Ramat Gan, Israel

Yaacov Yadgar

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaacov Yadgar .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Yadgar, Y. Tradition. Hum Stud 36 , 451–470 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-013-9294-9

Download citation

Published : 09 October 2013

Issue Date : December 2013

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-013-9294-9

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Historicity
• Charles Taylor
• A. MacIntyre
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

• Dictionaries home
• American English
• Collocations
• German-English
• Grammar home
• Practical English Usage
• Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
• Word Lists home
• My Word Lists
• Recent additions
• Resources home
• Text Checker

Definition of tradition noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• religious/cultural/ancient traditions
• This region is steeped in tradition.
• a tradition of something The company has a long tradition of fine design.
• The company has continued its tradition of innovation.
• The British are said to love tradition (= to want to do things in the way they have always been done) .
• They broke with tradition (= did things differently) and got married quietly.
• by tradition By tradition, children play tricks on 1 April.
• according to tradition According to tradition, a tree grew on this spot.
• There's a tradition in our family that we have a party on New Year's Eve.
• in the tradition of somebody He's a politician in the tradition of (= similar in style to) Kennedy.
• a native culture expressed almost wholly through an oral tradition (= that is only spoken and not written down)
• He is motivated by a family tradition of charity and good works.
• his country's rich folk traditions
• His work has earned him a central place in the African American literary tradition .
• By tradition, ships are often referred to as ‘she’ in English.
• Following in the Hitchcock tradition, he always appears in the films he directs.
• He broke with the family tradition and did not go down the mines.
• In a departure from tradition, the bride wore a red dress.
• He made it clear he was not going to be bound by tradition.
• In time-honoured tradition, a bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship.
• It became an annual tradition for me to ice the cake.
• Japan's rich cultural tradition and history
• The building was constructed in the best traditions of church architecture.
• The girl had challenged the traditions of her patriarchal tribe.
• The locals get together every year to keep this age-old tradition alive.
• The tradition dates back to the 16th century.
• They have inherited a rich tradition of music and dance.
• This region has a great musical tradition.
• an oral tradition handed down from generation to generation
• people of all faith traditions
• Brittany has a lively and very distinctive sense of tradition.
• Germany has a tradition of good quality newspapers.
• He decided not to follow the family tradition of joining the navy.
• This year there will be a break with tradition.
• The Punjabi have a proud military tradition.
• He is carrying on the family tradition of public service.
• This approach is in keeping with a long tradition.
• centuries-old
• according to (a/​the) tradition
• by tradition
• in (a/​the) tradition
• bound by tradition
• a departure from tradition
• in the best traditions of something

Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press!

Nearby words

A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot’s ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’

A reading of Eliot’s classic essay by Dr Oliver Tearle

‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ was first published in 1919 in the literary magazine The Egoist . It was published in two parts, in the September and December issues. The essay was written by a young American poet named T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), who had been living in London for the last few years, and who had published his first volume of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations , in 1917. You can read ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ here .

‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ (1919) sees Eliot defending the role of tradition in helping new writers to be modern. This is one of the central paradoxes of Eliot’s writing – indeed, of much modernism – that in order to move forward it often looks to the past, even more directly and more pointedly than previous poets had.

This theory of tradition also highlights Eliot’s anti-Romanticism. Unlike the Romantics’ idea of original creation and inspiration, Eliot’s concept of tradition foregrounds how important older writers are to contemporary writers: Homer and Dante are Eliot’s contemporaries because they inform his work as much as those alive in the twentieth century do.

James Joyce looked back to ancient Greek myth (the story of Odysseus) for his novel set in modern Dublin, Ulysses (1922). Ezra Pound often looked back to the troubadours and poets of the Middle Ages. H. D.’s Imagist poetry was steeped in Greek references and ideas. As Eliot puts it, ‘Some one said: “The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.” Precisely, and they are that which we know.’

In short, knowledge of writers of the past makes contemporary writers both part of that tradition and part of the contemporary scene. Eliot’s own poetry, for instance, is simultaneously in the tradition of Homer and Dante and the work of a modern poet, and it is because of his debt to Homer and Dante that he is both modern and traditional.

If this sounds like a paradox, consider how Shakespeare is often considered both a ‘timeless’ poet (‘Not of an age, but for all time’, as his friend Ben Jonson said) whose work is constantly being reinvented, but is also understood in the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean social and political attitudes.

Similarly, in using Dante in his own poetry, Eliot at once makes Dante ‘modern’ and contemporary, and himself – by association – part of the wider poetic tradition.

Eliot’s essay goes on to champion impersonality over personality. That is, the poet’s personality does not matter, as it’s the poetry that s/he produces that is important. Famously, he observes: ‘Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.’

This is more or less a direct riposte to William Wordsworth’s statement (in the ‘Preface’ to Lyrical Ballads in 1800) that ‘ poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings ’. Once again, Eliot sets himself apart from such a Romantic notion of poetry. This is in keeping with his earlier argument about the importance of tradition: the poet’s personality does not matter, only how their work responds to, and fits into, the poetic tradition.

‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ is a major work in Eliot’s prose writings, and perhaps his most famous essay. The argument he puts forward (summarised above) is perhaps surprising given modernism’s association with radical departures from artistic norms and traditions. As a modernist, Eliot might be expected to reject the great ‘canon’ or tradition of poetry that had gone before him.

But no: poetry, including Eliot’s own and that of his fellow modernists, derives its distinctiveness – and even its newness – from engaging with what earlier poets have done. Indeed, it is by drawing on the work of earlier writers and, as it were, standing on the shoulders of literary giants that a new poet asserts their own voice among the crowd.

And this is why Eliot’s other key argument in ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ is relevant. The poet should not seek to be ‘original’ by disregarding tradition altogether, but by looking for minimal ways in which they can alter what has gone before and create something slightly different and fresh. And the poet should forget about expressing an individual ‘personality’ for the same reason: a poet should be plugged into the common shared tradition of poetry rather than thinking they are working alone.

Eliot’s example of Homer is pertinent here: we know nothing of the poet who wrote The Odyssey for certain, but we don’t need to. The Odyssey itself is what matters, not the man (or men – or woman!) who wrote it. Poetry should be timeless and universal, transcending the circumstances out of which it grew, and transcending the poet’s own generation and lifetime. (Eliot’s argument raises an interesting question: can self-evidently personal poetry – e.g. by confessional poets like Sylvia Plath, or Romantics like Wordsworth – not also be timeless and universal? Evidently it can, as these poets’ works have outlived the poets who wrote them.)

For Eliot, the more mature the poet, the more his mind is able to synthesise various influences and emotions to produce something varied and complex. These influences and emotions are worked into great poetry by the self: it is inaccurate to view Eliot’s essay as a critical rejection of ‘self’ altogether. If anything, he is arguing that great poetry is forged in the deeper self, rather than the surface ‘personality’ of the poet.

We might also bear in mind that Eliot knew that great poets often incorporated part of themselves into their work – he would do it himself, so that, although it would be naive to read The Waste Land as being ‘about’ Eliot’s failed marriage to his first wife, we can nevertheless see aspects of his marriage informing the poem.

And in ‘Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca’, Eliot would acknowledge that the poet of poets, Shakespeare, must have done such a thing: the Bard ‘was occupied with the struggle – which alone constitutes life for a poet – to transmute his personal and private agonies into something rich and strange, something universal and impersonal’.

For Eliot, great poets turn personal experience into impersonal poetry, but this nevertheless means that their poetry often stems from the personal. It is the poet’s task to transmute personal feelings into something more universal. Eliot is rather vague about how a poet is to do this – leaving others to ponder it at length.

Lyndall Gordon observes a curious paradox regarding Eliot in this regard, in her biography of Eliot, The Imperfect Life of T. S. Eliot . She points out that although Eliot claimed that drama was less personal than poetry, the cover of drama actually gave Eliot the freedom to expose his private crises. We might extend such an idea to the earlier work, too, and see a character like J. Alfred Prufrock, not as a stand-in for young Eliot per se , but as a Laforgue -inspired mask which Eliot could adopt in order to transmute private attitudes or emotions into something more universal. In other words, Eliot knew that the best way he could plumb the depths of his own emotions and experiences was by speaking as someone else. As Oscar Wilde said, ‘Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth.’

About T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) is regarded as one of the most important and influential poets of the twentieth century, with poems like ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1915), The Waste Land (1922), and ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925) assuring him a place in the ‘canon’ of modernist poetry.

Modernist poets often embraced free verse, but Eliot had a more guarded view, believing that all good poetry had the ‘ghost’ of a metre behind the lines. Even in his most famous poems we can often detect the rhythms of iambic pentameter – that quintessentially English verse line – and in other respects, such as his respect for the literary tradition, Eliot is a more ‘conservative’ poet than a radical.

Nevertheless, his poetry changed the landscape of Anglophone poetry for good. Born in St Louis, Missouri in 1888, Eliot studied at Harvard and Oxford before abandoning his postgraduate studies at Oxford because he preferred the exciting literary society of London. He met a fellow American expatriate, Ezra Pound, who had already published several volumes of poetry, and Pound helped to get Eliot’s work into print. Although his first collection, Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), sold modestly (its print run of 500 copies would take five years to sell out), the publication of The Waste Land in 1922, with its picture of a post-war Europe in spiritual crisis, established him as one of the most important literary figures of his day.

He never returned to America (except to visit as a lecturer), but became an official British citizen in 1927, the same year he was confirmed into the Church of England. His last major achievement as a poet was Four Quartets (1935-42), which reflect his turn to Anglicanism. In his later years he attempted to reform English verse drama with plays like Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). He died in London in 1965.

Continue to explore Eliot’s work with our short summary of Eliot’s life , our introduction to his poem  The Waste Land , our exploration of what makes his poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ so ground-breaking , and our pick of the best biographies and critical studies of Eliot . If you’re studying poetry, we recommend these five helpful guides for the poetry student .

Below is a short video written and presented by Tearle, which introduces a few of the key themes of Eliot’s most famous poem, The Waste Land . It explores how Eliot’s poem puts his theory of ‘tradition’ into action through using lines from Shakespeare and classical antiquity.

Image: T. S. Eliot (picture credit: Ellie Koczela), Wikimedia Commons .

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Type your email…

5 thoughts on “A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot’s ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’”

Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA .

A very interesting piece analyzing Elliot’s thoughts about poetry. Thank you.

• Pingback: A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’ | Interesting Literature

Please give the bangla translation of this essay

• Pingback: Famous Literary Critics - How Remarkable Minds Shape Literature

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Indian Culture and Tradition Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on indian culture and tradition.

India has a rich culture and that has become our identity. Be it in religion, art, intellectual achievements, or performing arts, it has made us a colorful, rich, and diverse nation. The Indian culture and tradition essay is a guideline to the vibrant cultures and traditions followed in India. 

India was home to many invasions and thus it only added to the present variety. Today, India stands as a powerful and multi-cultured society as it has absorbed many cultures and moved on. People here have followed various religion , traditions, and customs.

Although people are turning modern today, hold on to the moral values and celebrates the festivals according to customs. So, we are still living and learning epic lessons from Ramayana and Mahabharata. Also, people still throng Gurudwaras, temples, churches, and mosques. 

The culture in India is everything from people’s living, rituals, values, beliefs, habits, care, knowledge, etc. Also, India is considered as the oldest civilization where people still follows their old habits of care and humanity.

Additionally, culture is a way through which we behave with others, how softly we react to different things, our understanding of ethics, values, and beliefs.

People from the old generation pass their beliefs and cultures to the upcoming generation. Thus, every child that behaves well with others has already learned about their culture from grandparents and parents.

Also, here we can see culture in everything like fashion , music , dance , social norms, foods, etc. Thus, India is one big melting pot for having behaviors and beliefs which gave birth to different cultures. 

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Indian Culture and Religion

There are many religions that have found their origin in age-old methods that are five thousand years old. Also, it is considered because Hinduism was originated from Vedas.

Thus, all the Hindu scriptures that are considered holy have been scripted in the Sanskrit language. Also, it is believed that Jainism has ancient origin and existence in the Indus valley. Buddhism is the other religion that was originated in the country through the teachings of Gautam Buddha. 

There are many different eras that have come and gone but no era was very powerful to change the influence of the real culture. So, the culture of younger generations is still connected to the older generations. Also, our ethnic culture always teaches us to respect elders, behave well, care for helpless people, and help needy and poor people.

Additionally, there is a great culture in our country that we should always welcome guest like gods. That is why we have a famous saying like ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’. So, the basic roots in our culture are spiritual practices and humanity. 

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Definition Essay

Definition Essay - Writing Guide, Examples and Tips

14 min read

Published on: Oct 9, 2020

Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024

People also read

Interesting Definition Essay Topics for Students

Definition Essay Outline - Format & Guide

Share this article

Many students struggle with writing definition essays due to a lack of clarity and precision in their explanations.

This obstructs them from effectively conveying the essence of the terms or concepts they are tasked with defining. Consequently, the essays may lack coherence, leaving readers confused and preventing them from grasping the intended meaning.

But don’t worry!

In this guide, we will delve into effective techniques and step-by-step approaches to help students craft an engaging definition essay.

Continue reading to learn the correct formation of a definition essay. 

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

On This Page On This Page -->

What is a Definition Essay?

Just as the name suggests, a definition essay defines and explains a term or a concept. Unlike a narrative essay, the purpose of writing this essay is only to inform the readers.

Writing this essay type can be deceivingly tricky. Some terms, concepts, and objects have concrete definitions when explained. In contrast others are solely based on the writer’s understanding and point of view.

A definition essay requires a writer to use different approaches when discussing a term. These approaches are the following:

• Denotation - It is when you provide a literal or academic definition of the term.
• Connotation - It is when the writer provides an implied meaning or definition of the term.
• Enumeration - For this approach, a list is employed to define a term or a concept.
• Analogy - It is a technique in which something is defined by implementing a comparison.
• Negation - It is when you define a term by stating what it is not.

A single or combination of approaches can be used in the essay. 

Definition Essay Types

There are several types of definition essays that you may be asked to write, depending on the purpose and scope of the assignment. 

In this section, we will discuss some of the most common types of definition essays.

Descriptive Definition Essay 

This type of essay provides a detailed description of a term or concept, emphasizing its key features and characteristics. 

The goal of a descriptive definition essay is to help readers understand the term or concept in a more profound way.

Stipulative Definition Essay 

In a stipulative definition essay, the writer provides a unique definition of a term or concept. This type of essay is often used in academic settings to define a term in a particular field of study. 

The goal of a stipulative definition essay is to provide a precise and clear definition that is specific to the context of the essay.

Analytical Definition Essay 

This compare and contrast essay type involves analyzing a term or concept in-depth. Breaking it down into its component parts, and examining how they relate to each other. 

The goal of an analytical definition essay is to provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the term or concept being discussed.

Persuasive Definition Essay 

A persuasive definition essay is an argumentative essay that aims to persuade readers to accept a particular definition of a term or concept.

The writer presents their argument for the definition and uses evidence and examples to support their position.

Explanatory Definition Essay 

An explanatory definition essay is a type of expository essay . It aims to explain a complex term or concept in a way that is easy to understand for the reader. 

The writer breaks down the term or concept into simpler parts and provides examples and analogies to help readers understand it better.

Extended Definition Essay 

An extended definition essay goes beyond the definition of a word or concept and provides a more in-depth analysis and explanation. 

The goal of an extended definition essay is to provide a comprehensive understanding of a term, concept, or idea. This includes its history, origins, and cultural significance. 

How to Write a Definition Essay?

Writing a definition essay is simple if you know the correct procedure. This essay, like all the other formal pieces of documents, requires substantial planning and effective execution.

The following are the steps involved in writing a definition essay effectively:

Instead of choosing a term that has a concrete definition available, choose a word that is complicated . Complex expressions have abstract concepts that require a writer to explore deeper. Moreover, make sure that different people perceive the term selected differently. 

Once you have a word to draft your definition essay for, read the dictionary. These academic definitions are important as you can use them to compare your understanding with the official concept.

Drafting a definition essay is about stating the dictionary meaning and your explanation of the concept. So the writer needs to have some information about the term.

In addition to this, when exploring the term, make sure to check the term’s origin. The history of the word can make you discuss it in a better way.

Coming up with an exciting title for your essay is important. The essay topic will be the first thing that your readers will witness, so it should be catchy.

Creatively draft an essay topic that reflects meaning. In addition to this, the usage of the term in the title should be correctly done. The readers should get an idea of what the essay is about and what to expect from the document.

Now that you have a topic in hand, it is time to gather some relevant information. A definition essay is more than a mere explanation of the term. It represents the writer’s perception of the chosen term and the topic.

So having only personal opinions will not be enough to defend your point. Deeply research and gather information by consulting credible sources.

The gathered information needs to be organized to be understandable. The raw data needs to be arranged to give a structure to the content.

Here's a generic outline for a definition essay:

Are you searching for an in-depth guide on crafting a well-structured definition essay?Check out this definition essay outline blog!

6. Write the First Draft

Drafting each section correctly is a daunting task. Understanding what or what not to include in these sections requires a writer to choose wisely.

The start of your essay matters a lot. If it is on point and attractive, the readers will want to read the text. As the first part of the essay is the introduction , it is considered the first impression of your essay.

To write your definition essay introduction effectively, include the following information:

• Start your essay with a catchy hook statement that is related to the topic and the term chosen.
• State the generally known definition of the term. If the word chosen has multiple interpretations, select the most common one.
• Provide background information precisely. Determine the origin of the term and other relevant information.
• Shed light on the other unconventional concepts and definitions related to the term.
• Decide on the side or stance you want to pick in your essay and develop a thesis statement .

After briefly introducing the topic, fully explain the concept in the body section . Provide all the details and evidence that will support the thesis statement. To draft this section professionally, add the following information:

• A detailed explanation of the history of the term.
• Analysis of the dictionary meaning and usage of the term.
• A comparison and reflection of personal understanding and the researched data on the concept.

Once all the details are shared, give closure to your discussion. The last paragraph of the definition essay is the conclusion . The writer provides insight into the topic as a conclusion.

The concluding paragraphs include the following material:

• Summary of the important points.
• Restated thesis statement.
• A final verdict on the topic.

7. Proofread and Edit

Although the writing process ends with the concluding paragraph, there is an additional step. It is important to proofread the essay once you are done writing. Proofread and revise your document a couple of times to make sure everything is perfect.

Before submitting your assignment, make edits, and fix all mistakes and errors.

If you want to learn more about how to write a definition essay, here is a video guide for you!

Definition Essay Structure 

The structure of a definition essay is similar to that of any other academic essay. It should consist of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

However, the focus of a definition essay is on defining and explaining a particular term or concept. 

In this section, we will discuss the structure of a definition essay in detail.

Introduction 

Get the idea of writing an introduction for a definition essay with this example:

Body Paragraphs

Here is an example of how to craft your definition essay body paragraph:

Types of the Term/Concept 

If applicable, the writer may want to include a section that discusses the different types or categories of the term or concept being defined. 

This section should explain the similarities and differences between the types, using examples and anecdotes to illustrate the points.

Examples of the Term/Concept in Action 

The writer should also include real-life examples of the term or concept being defined in action. 

This will help the reader better understand the term or concept in context and how it is used in everyday life.

Conclusion 

This example will help you writing a conclusion fo you essay:

Definition Essay Examples

It is important to go through some examples and samples before writing an essay. This is to understand the writing process and structure of the assigned task well.

Following are some examples of definition essays to give our students a better idea of the concept. 

Understanding the Definition Essay

Definition Essay Example

Definition Essay About Friendship

Definition Essay About Love

Family Definition Essay

Success Definition Essay

Beauty Definition Essay

Definition Essay Topics

Selecting the right topic is challenging for other essay types. However, picking a suitable theme for a definition essay is equally tricky yet important. Pick an interesting subject to ensure maximum readership.

If you are facing writer’s block, here is a list of some great definition essay topics for your help. Choose from the list below and draft a compelling essay.

• Authenticity
• Sustainability
• Mindfulness

Here are some more extended definition essay topics:

• Social media addiction
• Ethical implications of gene editing
• Personalized learning in the digital age
• Ecosystem services
• Cultural assimilation versus cultural preservation
• Sustainable fashion
• Gender equality in the workplace
• Financial literacy and its impact on personal finance
• Ethical considerations in artificial intelligence
• Welfare state and social safety nets

Need more topics? Check out this definition essay topics blog!

Definition Essay Writing Tips

Knowing the correct writing procedure is not enough if you are not aware of the essay’s small technicalities. To help students write a definition essay effortlessly, expert writers of CollegeEssay.org have gathered some simple tips.

These easy tips will make your assignment writing phase easy.

• Choose an exciting yet informative topic for your essay.
• When selecting the word, concept, or term for your essay, make sure you have the knowledge.
• When consulting a dictionary for the definition, provide proper referencing as there are many choices available.
• To make the essay informative and credible, always provide the origin and history of the term.
• Highlight different meanings and interpretations of the term.
• Discuss the transitions and evolution in the meaning of the term in any.
• Provide your perspective and point of view on the chosen term.

Following these tips will guarantee you better grades in your academics.

By following the step-by-step approach explained in this guide, you will acquire the skills to craft an outstanding essay. 

Struggling with the thought, " write my college essay for m e"? Look no further.

Our dedicated definition essay writing service is here to craft the perfect essay that meets your academic needs.

For an extra edge, explore our AI essay writer , a tool designed to refine your essays to perfection. 

Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)

Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That’s our Job!

Keep reading

Legal & Policies

• Privacy Policy
• Cookies Policy
• Terms of Use
• Refunds & Cancellations
• Our Writers
• Success Stories
• Our Guarantees
• Affiliate Program
• Referral Program
• AI Essay Writer

Disclaimer: All client orders are completed by our team of highly qualified human writers. The essays and papers provided by us are not to be used for submission but rather as learning models only.

Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future Essay

Why is it difficult to be critical (ie., think critically, not be antagonistic) of the concept of the traditional family.

It is really difficult to be critical of the concept of the traditional family. Trying to consider this point of view it is crucial to check the notion of the traditional family and compare and contrast it with other particular definitions of family. However, searching for reliable data, the conclusion may be drawn that there is no particularly strong definition of the notion of the traditional family as well as there is no one specific definition of the family either.

Coming out of the conclusion that the word tradition is connected with history, it is better to check the history of the family and then try to be critical of the traditional family. It is obvious that many people refer to traditional family as to the union of people who love each other, but it is not so, as a family has always been considered as the economic or political instrument and during many centuries family did not have any connection with love feelings and was an instrument of focusing power.

Therefore, when people dwell upon the importance of the traditional family, they usually have a different understanding of this notion. Thinking about the devotion to each other, the low rate (or absolute absence) of divorces, and the respect to the family as a too sacred institution, many people forget that traditional family in the historic consideration of the notion is a sort of a contract when two people were united for financial or political consideration and advantages. Thus, one of the reasons why it is difficult to dwell upon the idea of the traditional family is the absence of the concrete definition of the notions of family and the traditional family .

Moreover, dwelling upon the concept of the traditional family, the idea of children should not be avoided. Thus, about 40-50 years ago it was a norm to have 6-7 children. Nowadays, not many people want to have that number of children. Thus, considering the notion of the traditional family from this perspective, it is also important to understand that criticizing the concept of traditional family from this perspective, people are to have the considerations of those who believe in and want to have the traditional family.

Modern realms are different. The roles of many men and women have changed. It is a norm to see a working woman and a man who stays at home and takes care of the household. Thus, it is difficult to remain critical of the concept of traditional family because modern people live in absolutely different conditions and do not have an opportunity to imagine themselves in other conditions to criticize the notion from its original perspective.

Should traditional families be the goal? Why or why not?

Traditional families should not be the goal as if people would try to remember the history and would try to search for the real consideration of the traditional families, they would understand that there is no particular definition of the traditional family and if to consider the notion of the traditional family from the historic perspective, the family has always been used as the substitution of the contract. People are to set the goal of love as the basis of the family.

The family should become a sacred institution that should be intimate and only for two people. Those who want to set a goal to have a traditional family should remember that a traditional family is a family based on the contract conditions (financial or political) where a woman stays at home and brings up about 7-10 children. The modern situation, especially in the cities, is as follows, both men and women work and when it comes to children, they hardly have one to make sure that their family is full.

The situation has changed, women do not want to stay at home and cope with children. They want to have their careers, they want to grow and be successful in business. Thus, the roles have shifted and more and more men want children and to have them, they usually agree to stay at home until it is necessary. Considering the problem of whether the traditional families should be a goal or not, the answer is not as in this case there is no place for love and women are restricted from house responsibilities. The consideration of the men and women as equal in their social roles makes it impossible to set the goals of the traditional family and there is no need to do it.

People should live in the modern world. Everything changes and people are to accept these changes. There is no need to live in the past as we do not use candles for lightening the rooms in the evening and we do not wash our clothes in the rivers. People are to understand that many changes have occurred and those who have accepted most of them should think about how to make sure that all of the changes considered and follow those changes.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, January 28). Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future. https://ivypanda.com/essays/traditional-family-its-definition-and-future/

"Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future." IvyPanda , 28 Jan. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/traditional-family-its-definition-and-future/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future'. 28 January.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future." January 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/traditional-family-its-definition-and-future/.

1. IvyPanda . "Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future." January 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/traditional-family-its-definition-and-future/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Traditional Family, Its Definition and Future." January 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/traditional-family-its-definition-and-future/.

• The Hill End Historic Cultural Site in Australia
• History: Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site
• Historic Sources of Struggle on the Island of Montreal
• Family and Its Sociological Perspective
• Family Issues in the United States of the XXI Century
• Family as a Social Institution
• "Public and Private Families" by Andrew J. Cherlin
• Family Welfare and Divorce Policies