conventional
Americanadjective
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conforming or adhering to accepted standards, as of conduct or taste.
conventional behavior.
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pertaining to convention or general agreement; established by general consent or accepted usage; arbitrarily determined.
conventional symbols.
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ordinary rather than different or original.
conventional phraseology.
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not using, making, or involving nuclear weapons or energy; nonnuclear.
conventional warfare.
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Art.
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in accordance with an accepted manner, model, or tradition.
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(of figurative art) represented in a generalized or simplified manner.
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of or relating to a convention, agreement, or compact.
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Law. resting on consent, express or implied.
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of or relating to a convention or assembly.
adjective
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following the accepted customs and proprieties, esp in a way that lacks originality
conventional habits
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established by accepted usage or general agreement
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of or relating to a convention or assembly
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law based upon the agreement or consent of parties
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arts represented in a simplified or generalized way; conventionalized
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(of weapons, warfare, etc) not nuclear
noun
Related Words
See formal 1.
Other Word Forms
- anticonventional adjective
- anticonventionalist noun
- anticonventionally adverb
- conventionalist noun
- conventionally adverb
- nonconventional adjective
- nonconventionally adverb
- quasi-conventional adjective
- quasi-conventionally adverb
- semiconventional adjective
- semiconventionally adverb
Etymology
Origin of conventional
From the Late Latin word conventiōnālis, dating back to 1575–85. See convention, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This modeling allowed them to examine temperature, pressure, moisture, texture, volume, and oil content under different conditions, including 2.45 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and conventional frying.
From Science Daily • Apr. 2, 2026
It would be funded by using a mixture of conventional capital, borrowing, and use of the mutual investment model.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
Claim: “They were also rapidly building a vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles and would have soon had missiles that could reach the American homeland, Europe, and virtually any other place on earth.”
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2026
It’s good news for Easter egg buyers, as the average price of a dozen conventional eggs fell to $1.423 in the fiscal third quarter from $4.766 a year ago.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
The Phoenix comes the closest to being a conventional animal, all bird for all of its adult life.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
