Customaries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of practices or conventions that are commonly accepted by a group
2. Traditions or habitual practices that govern the behavior of individuals within a society
3. A collection of established norms or customs that dictate social behavior and interactions

Etymology: "Customaries" is simply the plural of "customary", used as a noun for a collection of accepted social practices or a book setting them out. The adjective "customary" came into Middle English as "custumary", borrowed from Medieval Latin "custumarius", meaning "pertaining to custom", and it is built from "custom" plus the suffix "-ary", which marks something connected with or belonging to a given thing. The Medieval Latin source reflects the older sense of "custom" as a binding usage, the kind of practice that carried the weight of law in a community rather than mere habit. A medieval "custumal" was a record of such local customs, and the plural form here keeps that sense of many recorded practices gathered together.

Synonyms: traditions, practices, conventions, habits, rituals

Antonyms: innovations, novelties, changes, exceptions, abnormalities