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SUPERSTITION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear
Synonyms:
superstition; superstitious notion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("superstition" is a kind of...):
belief (any cognitive content held as true)
Derivation:
superstitious (showing ignorance of the laws of nature and faith in magic or chance)
Context examples:
All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
"Down superstition!" I commented, as that spectre rose up black by the black yew at the gate.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Both Miss Lavinia and Miss Clarissa had a superstition, however, that he would have declared his passion, if he had not been cut short in his youth (at about sixty) by over-drinking his constitution, and over-doing an attempt to set it right again by swilling Bath water.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I must ask the Count about these superstitions.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
My hopes of being numbered in the band who have merged all ambitions in the glorious one of bettering their race—of carrying knowledge into the realms of ignorance—of substituting peace for war—freedom for bondage—religion for superstition—the hope of heaven for the fear of hell?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Superstition was with me at that moment; but it was not yet her hour for complete victory: my blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigour; I had to stem a rapid rush of retrospective thought before I quailed to the dismal present.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
This gave me a sort of shock, for I suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my recent experiences.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Yet must we be satisfied; in the first place because we have to be—no other means is at our control—and secondly, because, after all, these things—tradition and superstition—are everything.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
They are fearless and without religion, save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany tongue.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
