Superstition

Superstition - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

SUPERSTI'TION, n. [L. superstitio, supersto; super and sto, to stand.]

1. Excessive exactness or rigor in religious opinions or practice; extreme and unnecessary scruples in the observance of religious rites not commanded, or of points of minor importance; excess or extravagance in religion; the doing of things not required by God, or abstaining from things not forbidden; or the belief of what is absurd, or belief without evidence.

Superstition has reference to god, to religion, or to beings superior to man.

2. False religion; false worship.

3. Rite or practice proceeding from excess of scruples in religion. In this sense, it admits of a plural.

They the truth

With superstitions and traditions taint.

4. Excessive nicety; scrupulous exactness.

5. Belief in the direct agency of superior powers in certain extraordinary or singular events, or in omens and prognostics.

Superstitious - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

SUPERSTI'TIOUS, a. [L. superstitiosus.]

1. Over scrupulous and rigid in religious observances; addicted to superstition; full of idle fancies and scruples in regard to religion; as superstitious people.

2. Proceeding from superstition; manifesting superstition; as superstitious rites; superstitious observances.

3. Over exact; scrupulous beyond need.

Superstitious use, in law, the use of land for a religious purpose, or by a religious corporation.

su-per-stish'-un; su-per-stish'-us (deisidaimonia, "fearing demons"): The Biblical use of these words is limited to that of the former in Ac 25:19 the King James Version, and of the latter in Ac 17:22. In the former reference, Festus speaks of the Jews' "superstition" (the Revised Version (British and American) "religion"), thus artfully dodging an avowal of his own convictions "respecting the Hebrew faith." In Ac 17:22 the King James Version Paul tactfully refers to the Athenians as being "too superstitious" (the Revised Version (British and American) "too religious"), thus using the term correctly from both their and his point of view. They were truly too "religious" with their superstitions.

Leonard W. Doolan