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The state of being fixed in attachment; fidelity; steady attachment; adhesion; as, adherence to a party or to opinions.

The state or quality of being adherent; adherence. [R.]

Adherence; steady or firm attachment; fidelity; as, to error, to a policy. His adhesion to the Tories was bounded by his approbation of their foreign policy. De Quincey.

The act attaching, or state of being attached; close adherence or affection; fidelity; regard; anas, an attachment to a friend, or to a party.

The faith of the whole orthodox Christian church, or adherence thereto.

Adherence or conformity to the system of doctrine held by all parts of the orthodox Christian church; the doctrine so held; orthodoxy.

Adherence to external rites; fondness for ceremony.

Strict adherence to the forms or principles of some church organization; sectarianism.

Adherence to what are supposed or assumed to be the classical canons of art.

Adherence; attachment; devotion. [R.] A more tenacious cling to worldly respects. Milton.

The state of being conventional; adherence to social formalities or usages; that which is established by conventional use; one of the customary usages of social life.

A Puritan or Presbyterian; -- because of rigid adherence to religious or church discipline. [Obs.]

Adherence to evangelical doctrines; evangelism. G. Eliot.

Firm in adherence to promises, oaths, contracts, treaties, or other engagements. The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him. Deut. vii. 9.

Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.

Faithfulness; adherence to right; careful and exact observance of duty, or discharge of obligations. Especially:

The practice or the doctrine of strict adherence to, or dependence on, external forms, esp. in matters of religion. Official formalism. Sir H. Rawlinson.

The quality or state of being incoherent; want of coherence; want of cohesion or adherence. Boyle.

That which accords with the letter; a mode of interpreting literally; adherence to the letter.

With close adherence to words; word by word. So wild and ungovernable a poet can not be translated literally. Dryden.