Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The state, quality, or character of being conventional.
- noun A conventional act, idea, or practice.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The character of being conventional as opposed to natural; artificiality; a conventional custom, form, term, principle, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The state of being
conventional - noun countable Something conventional; a
convention
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional
- noun unoriginality as a result of being too conventional
- noun conformity with conventional thought and behavior
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'm not sure if it transcends its time, but its primal fear of co-option and absorption into "the Borg" of conventionality is nerve-wracking.
Friday YouTube: The Ending of Invasion of the Body Snatchers 2008
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Still the strictest conventionality is only the tithe of mint, anise, and cumin - there are many weightier matters of the law: but self-control, however shown, is advantageous to all - to women especially.
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That also strikes me as a good way to approach an aesthetics of what I'm labelling Spectaculist Fantasy, steering us away from the assumptions that use of conventional epic tropes equals conventional use of epic tropes or that subversion of conventionality is necessarily about introducing atypicalities of character, plot or theme -- which strikes me as potentially quite superficial (I wonder if you can talk about a "cult of subversion" on a par with Scott's "cult of innovation").
More Aesthetics Hal Duncan 2007
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In this parish, conventionality, which is the one true synonym for morality, called for bare shoulders and arms unsleeved.
We Can't Have Everything Rupert Hughes 1914
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For one person who, being a person of genius, has been injured by what is called conventionality -- I do not, of course, mean foolish conformity to what is absurd -- thousands have been saved by it, and self-separation means mischief.
Catharine Furze Mark Rutherford 1872
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Its great storytelling, extraordinary characters yes, and conventional storyline in such an extraordinary and intelligent way that I cannot believe that there was not a tiny bit of intention behind this kind of conventionality in the storyline and depiction of characters!
Breath and Bones 2005
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'But,' she added, with that touch of superiority in her manner which obtruded itself in most of her conversation with the vicar's wife, 'there are certain accepted traditions of womanhood such as conventionality approves, and it was not called artificial to conform to them when I was a girl.'
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For May had the unique advantage of combining that degree of conventionality which is admissibly essential, with a refreshing lack of conventionality in non-essentials.
A Venetian June Anna Fuller 1884
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It may be one kind of conventionality for some of us and another kind for others, but we are borne on by it all the same.
The Associate Hermits Frank Richard Stockton 1868
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"conventionality" are typically coded as "feminine," there is an unspoken bias that leads masculine transgender expression to be seen as more inherently transgressive than feminine transgender expression.
Life, Law, Gender 2008
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