superstition

SUPERSTI'TION, noun [Latin 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 truthWith 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