conventional
nounEtymology From convention + -al.
conventional
adj/kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/
Etymology From convention + -al.
1
Pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour.
- A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2023, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
- Young-White’s paeans to short kings encourage us to confront society’s overvaluation of men’s height, and recognize the guys under 6ft whose positive attitudes render them nothing short of regal. A short king isn’t just any male-presenting person of modest stature – it’s someone who has the strength of character to flourish in the face of conventional male beauty standards.2019 June 21, Adrienne Matei, “In praise of short men: will the rise of ‘short kings’ spell the fall of toxic masculinity?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020:
2
Ordinary, commonplace.
- They wear conventional clothes, eat conventional food, and keep conventional hours.
- “You’re not conventional?” Isabel gravely asked. “I like the way you utter that word! No, I’m not conventional: I’m convention itself. You don’t understand that?”1908, Henry James, chapter XXIX, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James; IV), New York edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #2834), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001:
2 more examples
- Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
- The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.1980, Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage:
3
Banal, trite, hackneyed, unoriginal or clichéd.
4
Engineering, Government, Military, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Politics, Tools, War, Weaponry Pertaining to a weapon which is not a weapon of mass destruction.
5
Agriculture, Business, Lifestyle Making use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
- Derived terms
- anticonventional, conventionalisation, conventionalise, conventionalism, conventionalist, conventionality, conventionalization, conventionalize, conventionally, conventional memory, conventional mortgage loan, conventional oven, conventional PCI, conventional war, conventional warfare, conventional weapon, conventional weaponry, conventional wisdom, counterconventional, non-conventional, nonconventional, postconventional, preconventional
- Related terms
- convention