collocation · academic

oral tradition

UK/ˈɔːrəl trəˈdɪʃən/US/ˈɔrəl trəˈdɪʃən/OR·al tra·DI·tion

Band 7+speakingtask2

stories, knowledge, or customs passed down by speaking rather than writing

Examples

Many historians rely on oral tradition to reconstruct events where written records are scarce.

The region has a rich oral tradition of folktales.

Oral tradition plays a key role in maintaining linguistic diversity.

Band 8 sentence

Scholars emphasise that oral tradition can preserve social norms and memory in ways that written records do not capture.

Collocations

  • preserve oral tradition
  • oral storytelling
  • rich oral tradition

Word family

oral adjectivetradition noun

Common mistakes

by oral traditionthrough oral tradition

oral testoral tradition

Say it for a higher band

5oral history6spoken tradition7+oral tradition

Synonyms

folk tradition

Easily confused

verbal

Much of the tribe's history survives in oral tradition rather than in written texts.

Related words

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In Art & Culture

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