folkways

[ fohk-weyz ]

See synonyms for folkways on Thesaurus.com

plural nounSociology.

the ways of living, thinking, and acting in a human group, built up without conscious design but serving as compelling guides of conduct.

Origin of folkways

folk + ways; term introduced in a book of the same title (1907) by W. G. Sumner

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use folkways in a sentence

Not subscribing to the folkway that prescribes seasick intoxication as an expression of joy, we did the town with discrimination.
A Matter of Proportion | Anne Walker
The same is true of any folkway so long as it is not yet doubted.
Folkways | William Graham Sumner

British Dictionary definitions for folkways

folkways

/ (ˈfəʊkˌweɪz) /

pl n

sociol traditional and customary ways of living

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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