conformity

American  

[kuhn-fawr-mi-tee] / kənˈfɔr mɪ ti /

noun

plural

conformities

1. action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc.

2. correspondence in form, nature, or character; agreement, congruity, or accordance.

3. compliance or acquiescence; obedience.

4. (often initial capital letter) compliance with the usages of an established church, especially the Church of England.

5. Geology. the relationship between adjacent conformable strata.

---

conformity British  

/ kənˈfɔːmɪtɪ /

noun

1. compliance in actions, behaviour, etc, with certain accepted standards or norms

2. correspondence or likeness in form or appearance; congruity; agreement

3. compliance with the practices of an established church

---

conformity Cultural  

1. Agreement between an individual's behavior and a group's standards or expectations. A conformist is one who follows the majority's desires or standards. (See also beatniks, bureaucrat, organization man (see also organization man), peer group, and peer pressure.)

---

Other Word Forms

• anticonformity noun
• hyperconformity noun
• preconformity noun
• semiconformity noun
• superconformity noun

Etymology

Origin of conformity

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English conformite, from Middle French, from Late Latin confōrmitās; equivalent to conform + -ity

Example Sentences

In a time of social conformity, “Picnic” explored the emotional wreckage and simmering passions behind the picket fences.

From The Wall Street Journal

America’s artists will resist this latest attempt at dictating conformity in a hundred different ways.

From Salon

Whatever one thinks of Reform—and it’s hard to know what to think of it—such an outcome would suggest that Scotland’s era of slumbrous conformity may soon come to an end.

From The Wall Street Journal

The director of research for office-furnishings maker Herman Miller designed the workstation to combat corporate monotony and conformity, even though his creation became associated with it.

From The Wall Street Journal

Today it’s synonymous with corporate monotony and conformity, but it actually started life as the antithesis of what it came to represent.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• obedience