superstition
Other forms: superstitions
A superstition is a belief or practice that isn’t entirely based on facts or reality, like carrying a rabbit’s foot because you think it brings you good fortune, or believing that Friday the 13th is a day of bad luck.
When you pick up a penny, is it because you’re poor or do you think it’s lucky? If the quickest route makes you walk under a ladder, will you do it even though it’s bad luck? These are two examples of superstitions, irrational decisions we make for some weird reason. The Latin roots of the word translate as “standing over,” like how you freeze standing over a broken mirror. Don’t worry, it’s only a superstition, right?
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an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fearsynonyms: superstitious notiontype of:beliefany cognitive content held as true
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Vocabulary lists containing superstition
If you suffer from triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), you may want to stop reading now. Different cultures have considered Friday and the number 13 unlucky for thousands of years. Even today, some believe that the combination of the two is an especially jinxed event. The words on this list all relate to superstition, belief, luck, and unexplained phenomena.
As you read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," learn this word list. Here are links to lists for texts in Grade 11's Collection 3: Song of Myself, Growing Up Asian in America, poems by Emily Dickinson, Walden, Against Nature, The Minister's Black Veil, The Pit and the Pendulum
While his father sits in jail for eco-terrorism, Noah sets out to prove that a casino boat is illegally polluting a local harbor.