oral tradition

noun

: the stories, beliefs, etc., that a group of people share by telling stories and talking to each other

Examples of oral tradition in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web During that time, accounts of daring Viking voyages, love, war, betrayal, and heroism – featuring a pantheon of gods, trolls, giants, dwarfs, and humans – were all part of a rich oral tradition. Kristina Lindborg, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2024 He’s joined on this trek by Raka (Peter Macon), an orangutan who preaches Ceasar’s gospel and attempts to keep his legacy alive through the oral tradition—though a lot has been lost or tweaked as by a game of telephone over the decades. James Grebey, TIME, 10 May 2024 There is a long oral tradition about volcanism at Meager as far back as eruptions that happened ~2,360 years ago. Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 2 May 2024 Learn about the history of the American spiritual and its oral tradition with a recital by American Spiritual Ensemble. Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 25 Feb. 2024 Inevitably, homiletics has found itself at the crossroads between a print tradition concerned with possessive authorship and an oral tradition concerned with charisma and communion. Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024 Folklore, defined broadly, is an oral tradition that stretches across generations. Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times, 16 Dec. 2023 His explorations of identity and self-definition, of the importance of the oral tradition in literature, and of his Kiowa heritage were interwoven with reverent evocations of landscape in passages of soaring lyrical prose. John Motyka, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2024 One of the trickster figures in oral tradition with Osage is Coyote. Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2024

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

Dictionary Entries Near oral tradition

Cite this Entry

“Oral tradition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oral%20tradition. Accessed 20 May. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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