conventionality
Americannoun
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conventional quality or character.
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adherence to convention.
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a conventional practice, principle, form, etc.
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conventionalities, conventional rules of behavior.
noun
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the quality or characteristic of being conventional, esp in behaviour, thinking, etc
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(often plural) something conventional, esp a normal or accepted rule of behaviour; propriety
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of conventionality
First recorded in 1825–35; conventional + -ity
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.
But when intellectuals refuse to render moral judgments, when they sink into safe conventionality, that in itself is a kind of judgment.
From Salon • Nov. 1, 2025
Isaacs’s Jay has processed his loss by throwing himself into action and activism, which bears more than a little resemblance to the task-oriented conventionality of Birney’s Richard.
From Washington Post • Oct. 13, 2021
Maes, meanwhile, grew up bucking against a “controlling mother,” Kapur writes, and the narrow conventionality of Flanders.
From New York Times • Jul. 20, 2021
The conventionality of “Happiest Season” might be the most radical thing about it.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2020
I suspect that inside the impenetrable fortress of conventionality he’s become, there’s one crazy-ass museum.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
