conventional

comparative more conventional · superlative most conventional

1. 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)

   1 more example

   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 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 Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020

   Synonyms: canonical, typical, customary, traditional, commensurate, compatible, compliant, conformable · Antonyms: atypical, out of the ordinary, unconventional, nonconventional

2. Ordinary, commonplace.

   They wear conventional clothes, eat conventional food, and keep conventional hours.

   3 more examples

   “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; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #2834), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001

   Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   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: customary, mundane, typical, average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common

3. Banal, trite, hackneyed, unoriginal or clichéd.

   Synonyms: prosaic, stereotypical, banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock, clichéd · Antonyms: imaginative

4. engineeringPertaining to a weapon which is not a weapon of mass destruction.

   Antonyms: nuclear

5. agricultureMaking use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

   Antonyms: organic

6. bridgeIn accordance with a bidding convention, as opposed to a natural bid.

   Synonyms: artificial · Antonyms: natural

plural conventionals

1. businessA conventional gilt-edged security, a kind of bond paying the holder a fixed cash payment (or coupon) every six months until maturity, at which point the holder receives the final payment and the return of the principal.