CONVENIENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does convenience mean? 

• CONVENIENCE (noun)
  The noun CONVENIENCE has 4 senses:

1. the state of being suitable or opportune

2. the quality of being useful and convenient

3. a toilet that is available to the public

4. a device or control that is very useful for a particular job

  Familiarity information: CONVENIENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONVENIENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being suitable or opportune

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

chairs arranged for his own convenience

Hypernyms ("convenience" is a kind of...):

comfort; comfortableness (a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain)

Derivation:

convenient (suited to your comfort or purpose or needs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being useful and convenient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

they offered the convenience of an installment plan

Hypernyms ("convenience" is a kind of...):

suitability; suitableness (the quality of having the properties that are right for a specific purpose)

Attribute:

convenient (suited to your comfort or purpose or needs)

inconvenient (not suited to your comfort, purpose or needs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "convenience"):

opportuneness; patness; timeliness (timely convenience)

accessibility; availability; availableness; handiness (the quality of being at hand when needed)

Antonym:

inconvenience (the quality of not being useful or convenient)

Derivation:

convenient (suited to your comfort or purpose or needs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A toilet that is available to the public

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

comfort station; convenience; public convenience; public lavatory; public toilet; restroom; toilet facility; wash room

Hypernyms ("convenience" is a kind of...):

facility (something designed and created to serve a particular function and to afford a particular convenience or service)

bathroom; can; john; lav; lavatory; privy; toilet (a room or building equipped with one or more toilets)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "convenience"):

ladies' room; powder room (a woman's restroom in a public (or semipublic) building)

latrine (a public toilet in a military area)

men's; men's room (a public toilet for men)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A device or control that is very useful for a particular job

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

appliance; contraption; contrivance; convenience; gadget; gismo; gizmo; widget

Hypernyms ("convenience" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "convenience"):

gadgetry (appliances collectively)

gimbal (an appliance that allows an object (such as a ship's compass) to remain horizontal even as its support tips)

injector (a contrivance for injecting (e.g., water into the boiler of a steam engine or particles into an accelerator etc.))

mod con (modern convenience; the appliances and conveniences characteristic of a modern house)

Derivation:

convenient (suited to your comfort or purpose or needs)

 Context examples 

If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“We shall be happy,” said Miss Clarissa, “to see Mr. Copperfield to dinner, every Sunday, if it should suit his convenience. Our hour is three.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is fortunate that your inclination and your father's convenience should accord so well.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Always deceived in fact by his own wishes, and regardless of little besides his own convenience.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“My dear Watson,” he said, “I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions which lie between us.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is, I believe, too little yielding—certainly too little for the convenience of the world.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

‘Oh,’ said he, ‘his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They took a slight survey of all; and Catherine was impressed, beyond her expectation, by their multiplicity and their convenience.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It was frozen over, but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But beside all this, the bulk of our people supported themselves by furnishing the necessities or conveniences of life to the rich and to each other.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)