Meaning & use
age-old tradition
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountable
A custom or practice that has continued for a very long time.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an age-old tradition or age-old traditions.
Patterns
- an age-old tradition of doing something
- carry on an age-old tradition
- an age-old tradition that …
Lighting candles at the winter festival is an age-old tradition in this village.
The family keeps up the age-old tradition of baking bread together on Sundays.
Critics say the age-old tradition of the town crier is slowly disappearing.
phrasecountablefigurative
A way of doing something that people have followed for so long it seems natural and hard to change.
Grammar: Often used slightly critically about habits in business or politics.
Patterns
- break with an age-old tradition
- an age-old tradition of something
Working from nine to five is an age-old tradition that many companies are now questioning.
She broke with an age-old tradition by becoming the first woman to lead the group.
Common combinations
- keep up a tradition
- They have kept up this tradition for over two hundred years.
- carry on a tradition
- Her daughters carried on the family tradition of teaching.
- break with tradition
- The new chef broke with tradition and served fish instead of roast meat.
- a long-standing tradition
- The parade is a long-standing tradition in the city.
- a family tradition
- Sunday lunch together is a family tradition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- custom
- Custom is the general word for a usual way of behaving in a society; age-old tradition stresses that it has lasted for centuries.
- ritual
- A ritual is a set of fixed actions, often religious; a tradition can be a broad practice rather than a ceremony.
- practice
- Practice is neutral and modern-sounding; age-old tradition sounds warmer and more historical.
Opposites
Word family
- traditional adjective
- following old customs and ways
- traditionally adverb
- in the way that has long been usual
- traditionalist noun
- a person who prefers old customs
Commonly confused: age-old tradition or old-age?
age-old tradition vs old-age
Old-age relates to being old, as in old-age pension. Age-old means very ancient, as in an age-old tradition.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
An age-old tradition is a long-established custom, so giving birthday cakes fits. Option B confuses the phrase with old-age, which is about being elderly, and the other options are not grammatical English.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “age-old tradition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.