oral tradition

American  

noun

1. a community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.

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Usage

What is oral tradition? Oral tradition is the cultural knowledge and information that has been passed down through speech from one generation to the next. Oral tradition can also refer to this mode of communication. Tradition means something that is handed down from generation to generation. Oral means transmitted by speech, and it is used in the term oral tradition to specifically distinguish information passed down through speech, song, or demonstration, as opposed to writing. Despite widespread literacy and modern electronic recordkeeping, oral tradition is still the most widely used form of communication in the world.

Example Sentences

But according to oral tradition, the tree predates both.

From BBC • May 2, 2026

Ethnomusicologist Jean-Romain Malwengo, who also teaches at the institute, pointed out that "rumba, like our other traditional music styles, is based on the oral tradition and therefore very fleeting."

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

Novels are long divorced from the oral tradition; few are designed to last beyond their reading.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025

Our history was not preserved beyond oral tradition and written memory.

From Salon • Mar. 31, 2025

Level of style won’t help you here: unlike the alternatives set apart by other pseudo-rules in the oral tradition, neither which nor that is more formal than the other. verbing and other neologisms.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker