traditional
Syllables: tra·di·tion·al/tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/
traditional adjective: of, relating to, or derived from tradition. Also the ellipsis of traditional Chinese.
Adjective
traditional (comparative more traditional, superlative most traditional)
- Of, relating to, or derived from tradition.
- This dance is one of the traditional customs in the area.
- For centuries, the nomadic tribes of Central Asia used colorful textiles called suzanis as seating, prayer mats, bedding and dividers in their yurts – the traditional tents that were their homes.2024 December 19, Amy Gunia, “Young Uzbeks are finding new markets for traditional handicrafts online”, in CNN Business
- Synonyms:
- traditionary, time-honored//time-honoured
- Antonyms:
- nontraditional, untraditional
- Communicated from ancestors to descendants orally.
- traditional expositions of the Scriptures
- In lieu of the name of the composer of a piece of music, whose real name is lost in the mists of time.
- Observant of tradition; old-fashioned.
- Her traditional values are antiquated.
- Ryoteis usually look like traditional Japanese inns or even private homes.1986, Fodor's Japan
- Produced with physical media, as opposed to digital art.
- Relating to traditional Chinese.
- The traditional form of the character has twice as many strokes as the simplified form.
Noun
traditional (countable and uncountable, plural traditionals)
- One with traditional beliefs.
- Synonyms:
- traditionalist
- Anything that is traditional, conventional, standard.
- Singer Paula Elliot closed the evening's performances with a number of gospel, jazz and blues tunes. Elliot concentrated mostly on traditionals like "Motherless Child," "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," "God Bless the Child," and "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues."1984 April 21, Maida Tilchen, “New Song, New Feminism, New Gay Awareness”, in Gay Community News, page 16
- While this year’s list of top names includes some traditionals — Matthew and Michael for boys, for instance, and Emily and Anna for girls — the nontraditional names are still the overwhelming favorites.2009 April 25, “Meet Number 16 Bus Shelter”, in Austin Daily Herald, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025
- Art produced with physical media, as opposed to digital art.
Also used as
traditional is also the ellipsis of traditional Chinese.
traditional is also the ellipsis of traditional grip.
traditional meaning in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam and Tagalog
traditional in Hindi
- of or relating to tradition
- परंपरागत paramprāgat, पारंपरिक pāramprik
- observant of tradition
- पारंपरिक pāramprik, परंपरागत paramprāgat
traditional in Bengali
- of or relating to tradition
- রেওয়াজী reẇajī
traditional in Malayalam
- of or relating to tradition
- പരമ്പരാഗത paramparāgata
traditional in Tagalog
- of or relating to tradition
- kinamihasnan
More languagesFewer languages
- traditional in Arabic
- تَقْلِيدِيّ taqlīdiyy
- traditional in Malay
- tradisional, tradisi
- traditional in Indonesian
- tradisional, tradisionil
- traditional in Persian
- سنتی sonati
- traditional in Thai
- โบราณ boo-raan, ดั้งเดิม dâng-dəəm
- traditional in Vietnamese
- truyền thống, theo truyền thống
Examples of traditional in a sentence
- The team had absolutely killed their traditional rivals, and the local sports bars were raucous with celebrations.
- Acid House is not my bag: I prefer the more traditional styles of music.
- Traditional values will always have a place—therefore, they will never lose relevance.
Synonyms of traditional
- traditionary
- time-honored//time-honoured
- traditionalist
Antonyms
Forms of traditional
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more traditional |
| superlative | most traditional |
| Noun | |
| plural | traditionals |
Origin of traditional
From tradition + -al. First attested in 1545.
Words formed from traditional
- African traditional religion
- antitraditional
- Chinese traditional medicine
- detraditionalize
- ethnotraditional
- neotraditional
- nontraditional
- non-traditional
- pretraditional
- protraditional
- pseudotraditional
- quasi-traditional
- semitraditional
- tradigital
- traditional art
- traditional birth attendant
- Traditional Chinese
- traditional Chinese medicine
- traditional climber
- traditional climbing
- traditional county
- traditional dry red
- Traditional Egyptian
- traditional grip
- traditionalise
- traditionalize
- traditionalism
- traditionalist
- traditionalistic
- traditionality
- traditional jazz
- traditionally
- traditional marriage
- traditional medicine
- traditionalness
- traditional owner
- traditional publisher
- traditional right
- traditional student
- ultratraditional
- untraditional
Phrases with traditional
Words that rhyme with traditional
Questions about traditional
- What does traditional mean?
- Traditional means of, relating to, or derived from tradition.
- What is traditional in Hindi?
- Traditional in Hindi is परंपरागत (paramprāgat), पारंपरिक (pāramprik). See Traditional meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is traditional?
- Traditional can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce traditional?
- Traditional is pronounced /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/.
Words near traditional in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: traditional (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-traditional.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-PerfectSoundWhatever-traditional.wav, en-us-traditional.ogg.
Cite this entry: “traditional.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/traditional. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.