CONVENTIONALITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conventionality mean? 

• CONVENTIONALITY (noun)
  The noun CONVENTIONALITY has 3 senses:

1. conformity with conventional thought and behavior

2. unoriginality as a result of being too conventional

3. orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional

  Familiarity information: CONVENTIONALITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONVENTIONALITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Conformity with conventional thought and behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

conformism; conformity (orthodoxy in thoughts and belief)

Derivation:

conventional (following accepted customs and proprieties)

conventional (in accord with or being a tradition or practice accepted from the past)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unoriginality as a result of being too conventional

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

unoriginality (uncreativeness due to a lack of originality)

Antonym:

unconventionality (originality by virtue of being unconventional)

Derivation:

conventional (unimaginative and conformist)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

convention; conventionalism; conventionality

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

orthodoxy (the quality of being orthodox (especially in religion))

Attribute:

conventional (following accepted customs and proprieties)

unconventional (not conforming to accepted rules or standards)

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

conformity; ossification (hardened conventionality)

Antonym:

unconventionality (unorthodoxy by virtue of being unconventional)

Derivation:

conventional (conforming with accepted standards)

 Context examples 

Perhaps I had too rashly over-leaped conventionalities; and he, like St. John, saw impropriety in my inconsiderateness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.

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

You are very kind, I am sure, she murmured; and the very conventionality of her tones and words, with the host of associations it aroused of the old life on the other side of the world, gave me a quick thrill—rich with remembrance but stinging sharp with home-sickness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

When Amy had whetted her tongue and freed her mind she usually got the best of it, for she seldom failed to have common sense on her side, while Jo carried her love of liberty and hate of conventionalities to such an unlimited extent that she naturally found herself worsted in an argument.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Conventionality is not morality.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;—it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal,—as we are!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)