superstitiousadj.n.
/ˌsuːpəˈstɪʃəs/, /ˌsjuːpəˈstɪʃəs/, U.S. /ˌsupərˈstɪʃəs/ A. adj.
I. Senses relating to belief (cf. superstition n. II.).† 3. Devoted to a non-religious object in an extravagant quasi-religious way. Obsolete.
1.
a. Of the nature of, involving, arising from, or characterized by superstition.
(a) Based on religion or belief in the supernatural.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [adjective]
superstitiousc1405
superstitional1683
freightful1716
freity1788
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 564 To maken hise Iapes and his wrecchednesse Of swich a supersticious cursednesse.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 20236 That..I may represse Thyn errours and thyn ffolye, Groundyd on Astrologye, Wych ne be nat vertuous, ffor they be superstycious.
?1548 J. Bale Comedy Thre Lawes Nature iii. sig. Cv With rytes superstycyouse.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. f. 136 Shall we denie that it is a superstitious worshippyng, when men do throwe themselues downe before bread, to worship Christe therein?
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. i. ii. 65 A bigger kind there is of them, called with vs Hobgoblins, and Robin good fellowes, that would in those superstitious times, grinde Corne for a messe of milke.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. ii. 68 In their Superstitious Belief, of Ghosts, Spirits, Dæmons, Devils, Fayries and Hob-goblins.
1730 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons 217 Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round; Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xiv. 427 Fear is commonly superstitious.
1813 T. Forster Res. Atmospheric Phaenomena x. 177 (heading) Of several superstitious notions which appear to have had their origin in an observance of certain meteorological phaenomena.
1866 C. Kingsley Lett. (1877) II. 241 The superstitious terror with which that meteor-shower would have been regarded in old times.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People ix. §1. 588 [To the Puritans] It was superstitious to keep Christmas, or to deck the house with holly and ivy.
1911 P. S. Reinsch Intellect. & Polit. Currents in Far East vii. 282 Other practices common among the people are plainly superstitious—certain sounds are believed to forbode ill, there are lucky and unlucky ways of beginning an undertaking.
1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics vi. 273 This scientism represents the same, superstitious, attitude which, in previous times, ascribed such power to a supernatural agency.
2009 Independent 5 Oct. (Life section) 3/2 I wish I knew why I sometimes engage in superstitious behaviours while playing golf.
(b) Not based on religion or belief in the supernatural.
ΚΠ
1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f.12 The Husband commeth not with those prophane and superstitious cleppings as the delicate and wanton Louer doth.
1708 J. Ozell in tr. N. Boileau-Despréaux Lutrin Ep. Ded. sig. *2 Nothing checks and deadens the Fancy more than a too superstitious Respect for the Original, especially in Poetry.
1791 T. Paine Rights of Man i. 99 To unhinge it from the superstitious authority of antiquity.
1852 tr. P. Chasles Anglo-Amer. Lit. & Manners iv. 176 (heading) Superstitious regard for public opinion—the American press and its excesses—helps.
1922 M. Sanger Pivot of Civilization vii. 167 He is immune to superstitious belief in and respect for the mysterious power of political or economic nostrums to reconstruct human society according to the Marxian formula.
1963 J. Hoenig & M. W. Hamilton tr. K. Jaspers Gen. Psychopathol. vi. 793 In this age of superstitious belief in science, science is used to conceal unanswerable facts.
2009 R. B. Day & D. Gaido tr. L. Trotsky in Witnesses to Permanent Revol. vii. 323 At the same time as they are fuelling social excitement, the thousands of voices from the liberal press are also attempting to steer it in narrow channels. They are sowing superstitious respect for the omnipotence of ‘public opinion’.
b. Credited with supernatural efficacy; magical.Not always clearly distinguishable from sense A. 1a ‘characterized by superstition’, but more neutral as regards disapproval or disbelief.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > [adjective]
witchOE
wielfulc1275
magica1393
superstitiousc1425
diabolic1485
magicala1492
prestigious?1534
sorcerous1546
witching1567
wizardly1588
wizard1638
stoicheiotical1646
witchcraftical1676
maleficious1684
Arabian-night1808
Magian1818
wizard-like1859
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 363 Þer was noon helpe..Þat vaille myȝt ageyn þe cursed charmys; Þei wer so strong and supersticious.
c1475 Mankind (1969) l. 320 To defende me from all superstycyus charmys.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndales Answere iii. p. cxcvi The meruayles that appere in crystall stonys, and such other superstycyouse coniuracyons.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 663 Bellowing out certaine superstitious charmes.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxvi. 225 All those Impostors, that pretend by the helpe of familiar spirits, or by superstitious divination of events past..to foretell the like events in time to come.
1759 tr. M. Adanson Voy. Senegal 255 Neither was the fury of the flames assuaged, till the inhabitants, finding the inutility of those superstitious incantations, bestirred themselves with all their might, in throwing water and sand to extinguish the fire.
1808 tr. K. Leems Acct. Danish Lapland xxi, in J. Pinkerton Gen. Coll. Best & Most Interesting Voy. I. 471 As these sorceresses pretended by various methods to call up bad weather, and thereby destroy men at sea, so they spread abroad also that by one superstitious spell or another..that they could maim them, nay more, deprive them of life.
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. ii. vi. 304 The various names by which these relics are designated all point to their estimation as amulets or superstitious charms.
1908 A. Lang Maid of France xxiv. 288 In this formula she is made to express penitence for mendaciously forging the revelation of her Saints, for making superstitious divinations, [etc.].
2006 J. S. Martin & L. H. Chaney Global Bus. Etiquette iv. 56 White lilies, used by people of Mexico to lift superstitious spells, are used for funerals in France.
c. That is the object of superstition; regarded with superstition; venerated, observed, or believed in, in the way of superstition. Also: used in a practice involving superstition.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [adjective] > used in or regarded with superstition
superstitious?a1450
?a1450 ( J. Lydgate Serpent of Division (McClean) (1911) 59 (MED) Supersticious fire..contynuelly toforne was wonte to brenne in þe chaste temple of þe goddes callid Vesta.
1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 93 Quhat haif ȝe for ȝow to affirm all the vestimentis and ornamentis in the Hous of God,..to be superstitious and idolatrical.
1566 in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 120 The mass bookes and all other popishe and supersticious bookes.
1595 in A. Macdonald & J. Dennistoun Misc. Maitland Club (1833) I. 77 To absteyne fra keiping of superstitious dayes.
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love i. iv. sig. C2v Pulling downe a superstitious Crosse, and aduancing a Venus; or Priapus, in place of it. View more context for this quotation
a1630 F. Moryson in Shakespeare's Europe (1903) v. i. 399 The sweating of stones, Nodding of Images, and like supperstitious Miracles.
1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng Restored 144 To cleanse away the filth of the Superstitious Victims [sc. sacrificed oxen].
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1657 (1955) III. 204 An Ordinance made that none should any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity (so esteem'd by them).
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Superstitious-Pies, Minc'd, or Christmas-Pies, so Nick-nam'd by the Puritans, or Precisians, tho' they can Eat 'em.
1719 in G. Lamoine Charges to Grand Jury (1992) 133 And such as bring in Agnus Dei's, and the like vain and Superstitious Trinkets, and deliver them to any Subject of their Realm, are guilty of a Præmunire.
1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 23 An..arch, decorated with a variety of superstitious figures.
1823 Blackwood's Mag. Oct. 395/2 The glorious burst of eloquence in which young Max comments upon the mysterious aspirations of the spirit of his superstitious idol, Wallenstein.
1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Palestine xx. 436 The room..contained some superstitious spots.
1913 R. G. Usher Rise & Fall High Comm. xv. 329 Sherfield had deliberately broken the stained glass in the church window, because he believed it to be a superstitious relic of the Scarlet Woman.
1977 A. Thwaite Portion for Foxes 14 Paul in Athens stooped to read the words Inscribed upon the superstitious stone, ‘To the Unknown God’, and felt a moment's fear.
2009 J. Antonakos Life's Objective i. 42 A cross or other religious object that one wears is not a superstitious object because its use is based on religious belief.
2. Subject or given to superstition; believing superstitions; acting in a way governed by superstition.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [adjective] > subject to or believing
superstitiousc1425
c1425 Prose Versions New Test.: Deeds (Cambr.) (1904) xvii. 22 (MED) Hit bisemes vn-to me þat ȝhe ben in alle þinges as supersticyouse men [L. superstitiosiores] (þat es, as men of vayne relygion, or elles, gifen to myche vnto vayne þinges).
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xvii. 22 Ye men of Attens, I perceave that in all thynges ye are somwhat [1534 to] supersticious.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. 218 To abuse the superstitious people, and to encomber their busie braynes with vaine hope or vaine feare.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. iv. 35 The superstitious idle-headed-Eld Receiu'd..This tale of Herne the Hunter, for a truth. View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 296 It seem'd..to a Superstitious eye the haunt Of Wood-Gods and Wood-Nymphs. View more context for this quotation
1751 Voy. Shetland, Orkneys, & Western Isles Scotl. 26 The Natives are Protestants, but very superstitious, of a black Complexion, speak Irish, and believe the Place to have been formerly inhabited by Pigmies.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Capt. Woodford 11 Feb. in Wks. (1852) I. 604 I am extremely superstitious, and think his coming into it was of evil augury.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 88 Prone to the error, common in superstitious men, of mistaking his own peevish..moods for emotions of pious zeal.
1882 E. R. Pitman Mission Life in Greece 251 The Maronite sect, which is a very ignorant and superstitious sect.
1911 H. Carrington tr. T. Flournoy Spiritism & Psychol. viii. 314 The dangers which it [sc. the spiritistic doctrine] offers for morbid temperaments and weak or superstitious minds which are inclined to give a spiritistic interpretation and a supernatural value to all obscure phenomena.
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy (1959) 96 A smart young son with a quick brain and a bundle of up-to-date opinions beside his sentimental, superstitious and old-fashioned mother.
2004 A. Levy Small Island xxvi. 276 Bernard didn't say, ‘Over my dead body,’ because we'd all become a little superstitious during the past year.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > [adjective] > devoted > loved with devotion or to excess
superstitious1582
over-loved1631
idolized1646
1582 J. Lyly in T. Watson Ἑκατομπαθία: Passionate Cent. Loue To Authour sig. ❧ Were not men more supersticious in their praises, then women are constant in their passions.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. i. 130 Haue I..Lou'd him next Heau'n? Obey'd him? Bin (out of fondnesse) superstitious to him? View more context for this quotation
a1704 T. Brown Beauties to Armida in Wks. (1707) I. i. 62 My superstitious Love adores them all.
1774 Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 487/1 As such we lov'd, admir'd, almost ador'd, Gave all the tribute mortals could afford; Perhaps we gave so much, the pow'rs above grew envious of our superstitious love.
II. Senses relating to excess (cf. superstition n. I.).† 4. Extraordinary; excessive; superfluous. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or superfluous
superfluent?1440
superfluous?a1450
superstitiousc1450
superfluec1475
redundant?1577
pleonastical1653
exuberant1667
pleonasmical1693
enormous1704
pluperfect1802
pleonastic1835
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 4301 Eke Phedra lovede hyr sone yn lawe, Whos love was superstycious.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope viii. f. cxxix There is folke so superstycious or capaxe, that they may not be contented with fewe wordes.
1598 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) I. 150 Certain sinister reports and superstitious slanders.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 301 They..have such a superstitious conceit of their owne merit and temper [etc.].
1640 T. Fuller Joseph's Coat 143 Let us take heed wee bee not all condemned by God, for being Fellons, de se; for wilfull murthering our owne lives, with our knifes by our superstitious eating.
5. Punctilious; overscrupulous; extremely careful or particular.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [adjective] > scrupulously careful or attentive to detail > excessively
superstitious1531
meticulous1827
1531 [implied in: T. Elyot Boke named Gouernour iii. xxi. sig. fiijv The consideration is wonder full excellent, and to be..supersticiously obserued.].
1553 R. Eden in tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India Pref. sig. Av Yf..anye supersticious head shall thinke it a heynous matter in any poynte to contrary Sainct Augustyne.
1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes i. f. 5 It is rare if at the last; after long and superstitious reuolution, one man at least among so many subtile heads..doe not espie some defect or excesse in the definition.
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 261 They [sc. spiders] haue giuen themselues to curious and superstitious hunting,..watching and espying their prey.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 221 The Germans are so superstitious in this kind, as a Gentleman may haue an action against him, who saith hee is no Gentleman.
1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 12 The superstitious States-man has his sneer.
1702 C. Beaumont J. Beaumont's Psyche (new ed.) i. ccxxiii. 13 Shall squeamish He my Pleasures harvest by Fond superstitious coyness thus prevent?
1846 Knickerbocker June 483 For the beautiful churches and monuments still preserved with superstitious care, one would pardon to this once proud Queen of the Hanseatic League all its errors.
a1936 A. E. Housman M. Manilii Astronomicon Liber Quintus (1937) p. xxxii I have borrowed from van Wageningen and Mr Garrod whatever I thought worth borrowing; and my superstitious practice of acknowledging obligations will enable anyone to see how little it is.
B. n.
With the. (a) (withplural agreement) superstitious people as a class, those who are superstitious; (b) singular the typical superstitious person.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [noun] > person
superstitious1548
bigot1598
superstitionist1651
1548 G. Joye in tr. A. Osiander Coniectures Ende of Worlde To Rdr. sig. Aij The dronkardes abuse the wyne,..the Idolaters abuse the sonne, mone, starres, stones, trees, and the supersticiouse the water, fyer, &c.
1608 Bp. J. Hall Characters Vertues & Vices ii. 87 The superstitious is fond in obseruation, seruile in feare.
1618 T. Adams Happines of Church ii. 133 The ouer-precise are so thwartingly crosse to the superstitious..that they will scarce doe a good worke, because a Hereticke doth it.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 275 The superstitious, who depended upon some supernaturall helps.
1684 W. Baxter tr. Plutarch Of Superstition in M. Morgan et al. tr. Plutarch Morals I. ii. 18 Indeed, the superstitious is an Atheist in his Heart.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Superstition The Punishment allotted by several Councils for the Superstitious, was to fast a Month in Prison.
1794 P. Will tr. A. Knigge Pract. Philos. Social Life I. iii. 150 The superstitious is therefore justly intitled to compassion, and we ought to tolerate him with fraternal love.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) This is hung up in a stable; being viewed by the superstitious as a certain antidote to their horses being rode by the hag called the Mare.
1869 F. Seebohm Oxf. Reformers (rev. ed.) v. 194 The superstitious were sneered at for attributing strange virtues to images and shrines.
1913 Nature 14 Aug. 607/2 The omen of blood was viewed with some alarm by the superstitious in the village.
1957 L. E. Pearson Elizabethans at Home vi. 404 Physicians and wise women and the superstitious might try to heal diseases they knew nothing about.
2010 E. Cameron Enchanted Europe ii. vii. 111 The world of the superstitious was not so evidently a matter of imagination; rather, theological writers described real activities conducted by real people, but reinterpreted them to accord with their dogmatic presuppositions.
Compounds
superstitious use n. Law (now Ecclesiastical Law) (a) a use of money, as a bequest or trust, considered to be inimical to the Established Church or the state religion, originally a disposition of property for purportedly religious purposes not tolerated by the law; (b) the using of money for such a purpose.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > benefice > other financial matters > [noun] > superstitious uses
superstitious usea1626
1604 in E. Coke Q. Parl. Rep. f. 106v Intant que le statute [viz. 1 Edw. VI, c. 14] per expres parols abrogate & tolle touts tiels supersticious vses queux fuerent dauer continuance a touts iours.]
a1626 F. Bacon Elements Common Lawes (1630) 52 The statute of Chantries that willeth all lands to be forfeited, giuen or imploied to a superstitious vse.
1715 Act 1 Geo. I Stat. 2. c. 50 (heading) To enquire of the Estates..of Popish Recusants, and of Estates given to superstitious Uses.
1762 M. Foster Rep. Proc. Comm. Oyer & Terminer ii. i. 265 This forfeiture, which is not now applied to superstitious use, is still part of the revenue of the Crown.
1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 13 Superstitious uses..are declared..to be where lands, tenements, or goods, are given for the maintenance of persons to pray for the souls of dead men in purgatory, or to maintain perpetual obits, lamps, &c.
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon at Charities The history of the law of charities prior to the 43rd Eliz. c. 4, which is emphatically called the Statute of Charitable Uses, is extremely obscure... It is clear that no superstitious uses are within the purview of the statute.
1919 Times 4 June 4/2 The conclusion, therefore..was that a gift for masses of the souls of the dead ceased to be impressed with the stamp of superstitious use when Roman Catholicism was again permitted to be openly professed in this country and that thenceforth it could not be deemed illegal.
1946 Times 23 Dec. 7/4 Among notable cases in which Russell was briefed as counsel was Bourne v. Keane (1919), in which the House of Lords accepted his argument that a bequest for Masses for the dead is not void as a gift to superstitious uses.
2009 L. M. Friedman Dead Hands viii. 154 In a 1754 case, a Jewish testator left money to found a Yeshiva where students could study Rabbinic law. The chancellor held that such a gift was void. It was a gift for a ‘superstitious use’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1405