- (often disapproving) tending to follow what is done or considered acceptable by society in general; normal and ordinary, and perhaps not very interesting
- conventional behaviour/morality
- She's very conventional in her views.
Extra Examples- He turned out to be a very conventional young man.
- The imagery in the poem is somewhat conventional.
- They rejected what they saw as the hypocrisy of conventional society.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- [usually before noun] following what is traditional or the way something has been done for a long time
- conventional methods/approaches
- It's not a hotel, in the conventional sense, but rather a whole village turned into a hotel.
- You can use a microwave or cook it in a conventional oven.
Extra Examples- Her face is not beautiful in conventional terms.
- My sister was taught to read by more conventional methods.
- Raising such a large amount of money from conventional sources would be difficult.
- She had a fairly conventional start to her career.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- [usually before noun] (of medical treatment) using the usual scientific methods of Western medicine such as artificial drugs and operations
- conventional medicine
- Conventional treatments for this condition have been only partially successful.
- [usually before noun] (especially of weapons) not nuclear
- conventional forces/weapons
- A conventional war would still cause unacceptable devastation.
- a conventional power station (= using oil or coal as fuel, rather than nuclear power)
Word Originlate 15th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to a formal agreement or convention’): from French conventionnel or late Latin conventionalis, from Latin conventio(n-) ‘meeting, covenant’, from the verb convenire ‘assemble, agree, fit’, from con- ‘together’ + venire ‘come’.
Idioms
See conventional in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee conventional in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishconventional/received/popular wisdom
- the view or belief that most people hold
- Conventional wisdom has it that riots only ever happen in cities.
Extra Examples- Conventional wisdom has it that all sense of community has gone, but that is not the case where I live.
- The received wisdom is that the book is always better than the film.
- Contrary to conventional wisdom, stress is not always a bad thing.
- Popular wisdom has it that higher oil prices are bad for economic growth.
Check pronunciation:
conventional