Meanings
nounsuperstition (countable and uncountable, plural superstitions)
plural superstitions
- countablederogatoryuncountableA belief considered to be irrational, unfounded, or based solely on fear and ignorance, particularly credulous reverence towards and belief in supernatural forces.
The world is not merely the sum of all its atoms... There are no atoms in themselves. Atoms regarded as things in themselves are a scientific superstition.
1893 January, Paul Carus, “Panpsychism and Panbiotism”, in Monist, volume 3, number 2, page 2511 more example
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.
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Changes in London”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 229 - archaiccountableuncountableExcessive nicety; overscrupulousness.
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsuperstitio“superstition”
- Middle Frenchsuperstition
- Englishsuperstition
From Middle French superstition, from Latin superstitio (“superstition”), from superstāre (“to stand above, to stand upon, to survive”) + -tiō (“-tion: forming nouns”), from super- (“above, over, upon”) + stāre (“to stand”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic خُرَافَة
- خُرَافَة (ḵurāfa)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Basque sineskeria
- sineskeriaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Bengali কুসংস্কার
- কুসংস্কার (kuśoṅskar)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Bulgarian суеве́рие
- суеве́рие (suevérie)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Catalan superstició
- supersticióa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Chinese Cantonese 迷信
- 迷信 (mai⁴ seon³)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Chinese Mandarin 迷信
- 迷信 (míxìn)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Czech pověra
- pověraa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Danish overtro
- overtroa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Dutch bijgeloof
- bijgeloofa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Esperanto superstiĉo
- superstiĉoa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Estonian ebausk
- ebauska belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Finnish taikausko
- taikauskoa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
French superstition
- superstitiona belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
German Aberglaube
- Aberglaubea belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Greek δεισιδαιμονία, πρόληψη
- δεισιδαιμονία (deisidaimonía)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- πρόληψη (prólipsi)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Hebrew אֱמוּנָה תְּפֵלָה
- אֱמוּנָה תְּפֵלָה (emuná t'felá)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Hindi अंधविश्वास, ख़ुराफ़त
- अंधविश्वास (andhviśvās)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- ख़ुराफ़त (xurāfat)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- खुराफत (khurāphat)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- ख़ुराफ़ात (xurāfāt)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- खुराफात (khurāphāt)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Hungarian babona
- babonaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Icelandic hjátrú, hindurvitni
- hjátrúa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- hindurvitnia belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- hégiljaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- bábiljaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Indonesian takhayul, khurafat
- takhayula belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- khurafata belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Irish baothchreideamh, piseog
- baothchreideamha belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- piseoga belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Italian superstizione
- superstizionea belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Japanese 迷信
- 迷信 (meishin)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Korean 미신
- 미신 (misin)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Latin superstitio
- superstitioa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Latvian māņticība
- māņticībaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Lithuanian prietaras
- prietarasa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Malay tahyul
- tahyula belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Māori whakataputaputanga
- whakataputaputangaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Norwegian Bokmål overtro
- overtroa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Polish przesąd, zabobon
- przesąda belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- zabobona belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Portuguese superstição
- superstiçãoa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Romanian superstiție
- superstițiea belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Russian суеве́рие, пристра́стие
- суеве́рие (sujevérije)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- пристра́стие (pristrástije)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- предрассу́док (predrassúdok)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- пове́рье (povérʹje)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Scottish Gaelic saobh-chràbhadh
- saobh-chràbhadha belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Slovak povera
- poveraa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Spanish superstición
- supersticióna belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Swedish skrock, vidskepelse
- skrocka belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- vidskepelsea belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- övertroa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Tagalog pamahiin, erehiya
- pamahiina belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- erehiyaa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Thai ไสยศาสตร์, ไสยเวท
- ไสยศาสตร์ (sǎi-yá-sàat)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- ไสยเวทa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- ความเชื่องมงายa belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- ความเชื่อโชคลาง (kwaam-chʉ̂ʉa-chôok-laang)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Turkish batıl inanç, hurafe
- batıl inança belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- hurafea belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Ukrainian забобо́н
- забобо́н (zabobón)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Urdu خُرافَت, خُرافات
- خُرافَت (xurāfat)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- خُرافات (xurāfāt)a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Vietnamese mê tín, sự mê tín
- mê tína belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
- sự mê tína belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Welsh ofergoel
- ofergoela belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with superstition
editionpositioncommissionconditionadditionmissionpermissionnutritiontransmissionsubmissiontransitionacquisitionadmissionexhibitiontraditiontuitionemissionpartitionpropositionmusicianexpeditionignitionprohibitioninhibition
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
superstition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superstition
MLA
“superstition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superstition. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “superstition,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superstition.
Source: superstition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.