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The act of infracting or breaking; breach; violation; nonobservance; infringement; as, an infraction of a treaty, compact, rule, or law. I. Watts.

s which the canon law requires between the reception of the various degrees of orders. Nonobservance of the interstices . . . is a sin. Addis & Arnold.

To conform to the doctrines, observances, or methods of the Jews; to inculcate or impose Judaism. They . . . prevailed on the Galatians to Judaize so far as to observe the rites of Moses in various instances. They were Judaizing doctors, who taught the observation of the Mosaic law. Bp. Bull.

A person of strict piety; one who lives in the exact observance of religious duties; -- sometimes so called in contempt or ridicule.

ht, obedient to the stream. Shak. The chief his orders gives; the obedient band, With due observance, wait the chief's command. Pope.

uious flatterer, parasite. There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of another. Trench.

Observance. [Obs.]

Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance. [Obs.] We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances. Jer. Taylor.

ted; as, an obsolete word; an obsolete statute; -- applied chiefly to words, writings, or observances.

Rigid observance of external forms of religion, without genuine piety; hypocrisy in religion; a censorious, self-righteous spirit in matters of morals or manners. "A piece of pharisaism." Hammond.

One of a sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.

An overprecise person; one rigidly or ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules; a formalist; -- formerly applied to the English Puritans. The most dissolute cavaliers stood aghast at the dissoluteness of the emancipated precisian. Macaulay.

acticed; also, generally or extensively existing; widespread; prevailing; as, a prevalent observance; prevalent disease. This was the most received and prevalent opinion. Woodward.

The art of preserving from, or of preventing, disease; the observance of the rules necessary for the preservation of health; preservative or preventive treatment.

quette, or mutual intercourse; precise; exact in the smallest particulars. "A punctilious observance of divine laws." Rogers. "Very punctilious copies of any letters. The Nation. Punctilious in the simple and intelligible instances of common life. I. Taylor. -- Punc*til"ious*ly, adv. -- Punc*til"ious*ness, n.…

Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict; overscrupulous; rigid; -- often used by way of reproach or contempt. Paritanical circles, from which plays and novels were strictly excluded. Macaulay. He had all the puritanic traits, both good and evil. Hawthorne.

A friar of the Strict Observance, -- an order of Franciscans. [Written also Recollet.] Addis & Arnold.

fear, or awe of some superhuman and overruling power, whether by profession of belief, by observance of rites and ceremonies, or by the conduct of life; a system of faith and worship; a manifestation of piety; as, ethical religions; monotheistic religions; natural religion; revealed religion; the religion of the Jews;…

ished by law, precept, or custom; a formal act of religion or other solemn duty; a solemn observance; a ceremony; as, the rites of freemasonry. He looked with indifference on rites, names, and forms of ecclesiastical polity. Macaulay.

A system founded upon a ritual or prescribed form of religious worship; adherence to, or observance of, a ritual.