conventional
/kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/
conventional adjective: pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour.
Adjective
conventional (comparative more conventional, superlative most conventional)
- Pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour.
- A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2023, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
- Young-White’s paeans to short kings encourage us to confront society’s overvaluation of men’s height, and recognize the guys under 6ft whose positive attitudes render them nothing short of regal. A short king isn’t just any male-presenting person of modest stature – it’s someone who has the...2019 June 21, Adrienne Matei, “In praise of short men: will the rise of ‘short kings’ spell the fall of toxic masculinity?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020
- Synonyms:
- canonical, typical, customary, traditional, commensurate, compatible, compliant, conformable, conformant, congruent
- Antonyms:
- atypical, out of the ordinary, unconventional, nonconventional
- Ordinary, commonplace.
- They wear conventional clothes, eat conventional food, and keep conventional hours.
- “You’re not conventional?” Isabel gravely asked. “I like the way you utter that word! No, I’m not conventional: I’m convention itself. You don’t understand that?”1908, Henry James, chapter XXIX, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James; IV), New York edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- customary, mundane, typical, average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden
- Banal, trite, hackneyed, unoriginal or clichéd.
- Synonyms:
- prosaic, stereotypical, banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock, clichéd, commonplace, corny
- Antonyms:
- imaginative
- Pertaining to a weapon which is not a weapon of mass destruction.
- Antonyms:
- nuclear
- Making use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
- Antonyms:
- organic
- In accordance with a bidding convention, as opposed to a natural bid.
- Synonyms:
- artificial
- Antonyms:
- natural
Noun
conventional (plural conventionals)
conventional meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
conventional in Hindi
- following an accepted principle
- पारंपरिक pāramprik, परंपरागत paramprāgat
conventional in Tamil
- பொதுவாக ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளப்பட்ட, வழக்காறு சார்ந்த, வழக்கத்தில் உள்ள, மரபில் உள்ள, வளமையிலுள்ள, வழங்குமுறை
conventional in Urdu
- رسمی, روایتی
conventional in Bengali
- প্রচলিত, গতানুগতিক, সামাজিক, মামুলী, মামুলি, ব্যবহারসিদ্ধ
More languagesFewer languages
- conventional in Malayalam
- നിശ്ചയപ്രകാരമുളള, സമുദായാചാരപ്രകാരമുളള, കീഴ്നടപടിയനുസരിച്ചുള്ള, മാമൂൽപ്രകാരമുള്ള
- conventional in Tagalog
- kagawianin
- conventional in Arabic
- عُرْفِيّ ʕurfiyy
- conventional in Indonesian
- konvensional
- conventional in Persian
- عرفی 'orfi
- conventional in Vietnamese
- tục lệ, lẽ thường
Examples of conventional in a sentence
- A short king isn’t just any male-presenting person of modest stature – it’s someone who has the strength of character to flourish in the face of conventional male beauty standards.2019 June 21, Adrienne Matei, “In praise of short men: will the rise of ‘short kings’ spell the fall of toxic masculinity?”, in The...
- The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.1980, Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage:
Synonyms of conventional
- canonical
- typical
- customary
- traditional
- commensurate
- compatible
- compliant
- conformable
- conformant
- congruent
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of conventional
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more conventional |
| superlative | most conventional |
| Noun | |
| plural | conventionals |
Origin of conventional
From convention + -al.
Words formed from conventional
- anticonventional
- conventionalisation
- conventionalise
- conventionalism
- conventionalist
- conventionality
- conventionalization
- conventionalize
- conventionally
- conventional memory
- conventional mortgage loan
- conventional oven
- conventional PCI
- conventional war
- conventional warfare
- conventional weapon
- conventional weaponry
- conventional wisdom
- counterconventional
- non-conventional
- nonconventional
- postconventional
- preconventional
Phrases with conventional
Questions about conventional
- What does conventional mean?
- Conventional means pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour.
- What is conventional in Hindi?
- Conventional in Hindi is पारंपरिक (pāramprik), परंपरागत (paramprāgat). See Conventional meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use conventional in a sentence?
- A short king isn’t just any male-presenting person of modest stature – it’s someone who has the strength of character to flourish in the face of conventional male beauty standards.
- What part of speech is conventional?
- Conventional can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce conventional?
- Conventional is pronounced /kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/.
Words near conventional in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: conventional (page history and authors); conventional (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); conventional (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); conventional (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); conventional (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-conventional.ogg.
Cite this entry: “conventional.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/conventional. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.