Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
✅ Following rules 🎉 A ceremony 👀 Careful attention
observance

observance

11 4.7
Following a law or custom
  • noun
  • /əbˈzɜrvəns/
translation icon : cumplimiento
  • Many schools hold a special assembly in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
  • observance of law
  • kosher observance
  • religious observance

If you shift your observance in many ways, it can mean the end of a certain portion of your life and your community.

Examples

  • Hays County offices will be closed Monday in observance of Veterans Day.

  • Indeed, we even imbue our religious observances and rituals with continual reminders of our spiritual home in Jerusalem.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Different in his looks, in his mode of dress, in his beliefs, in the observance of his holy days.

    Genocide (1982)

  • Religious observance should not come into direct conflict with success as musical learners.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Eating, however, involves both partners as well as their children, and decisions about kosher observance must be made together.

    Academic text (1999)

  • There is an inevitable conflict between the observance of human rights and the wielding of arbitrary power.

    Academic text (1994)

  • According to Rabbi Shimon, observance of the commandment brings a promise of reward.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Among Jews, on the other hand, kosher observance carries more subtle meanings.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The mechanisms of kosher observance also allow it to signify various group affiliations within the Jewish community.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The strictness of kosher observance, therefore, reflects valuations of the distinctiveness of Jewish material practice.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

compliance
vsobservance
171 5.0

Obeying rules or orders from people in charge

emphasizes following laws customs or practices rather than obeying authorities
adherence
vsobservance
29 6.3

Following rules or beliefs closely

focuses more on the act of following external laws customs or practices
conformity
vsobservance
24 4.8

A state of behaving and thinking like most people or like rules say

focuses on following formal laws customs or official practices rather than social matching
conformism
vsobservance
1 7.7

Following usual rules and beliefs without asking questions

is neutral about motive and covers lawful or customary following
orthopraxy
vsobservance
  • Formal
1 9.9

To follow correct religious or traditional rituals and customs

is broader, covering following any law custom or general practice
abidance
vsobservance
  • Formal
9.5

Following rules or laws

is about following laws customs or specific practices
abidingness
vsobservance
8.9

The quality of always following rules set by others

refers more to specific acts of following laws customs or practices

Antonyms

disregard
61 4.2

Not paying attention to something on purpose

noncompliance
7 7.7

Failure to follow a rule, order, or request

nonobservance
8.5

Not following a law, rule, or custom

How Observed

strictness
3 3.4
observance
11 4.7
laxity
3 8.3

Surface Forms

observance singular
observances plural

Morphology

observance = observe (semi-transparent) = observe + ance

This sense ('the act of following a law/custom') comes from 'observe' in the sense 'to comply with'; learners who only know 'observe' as 'to watch' may not automatically infer this meaning.

Etymology

Observance comes from the Latin root servare, meaning 'to keep', as in preserve, so it grew to mean 'keeping' a law, custom, or practice. That's why following a rule is called its observance.