Meaning & use
convention
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A way of behaving or doing things that most people in a group accept as normal, even if no rule requires it.
Grammar: Countable for a particular custom (a social convention); uncountable for custom in general (against convention).
Patterns
- follow convention
- break with convention
- by convention
It is a social convention to shake hands when you meet.
The artist broke with convention and painted the walls bright orange.
By convention, the host speaks first.
nouncountable
A large meeting of people who share a job, interest or political aim.
Grammar: Countable and used with at: at the convention.
Patterns
- a convention for something
- at a convention
Thousands of fans attended the comics convention.
The party held its national convention in July.
Teachers gathered at the annual convention for training.
nouncountableformal
A formal agreement between countries on a certain subject.
Grammar: Usually in names of treaties: the Geneva Convention.
Patterns
- a convention on something
- sign a convention
Many nations signed the convention on the rights of children.
The convention bans certain weapons.
The Geneva Conventions protect prisoners of war.
Word forms
| plural | conventions |
|---|
Common combinations
- social convention
- Bowing is a social convention in some countries.
- break with convention
- The architect broke with convention.
- convention center
- The convention center hosted the trade show.
- literary convention
- The flashback is a common literary convention.
- national convention
- Delegates arrived for the national convention.
- defy convention
- The band defied convention by playing in silence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- custom
- Custom is a long-standing tradition of a group, while convention is an agreed way of doing something that may be recent.
- tradition
- Tradition emphasizes being handed down over time and often has emotional value.
- conference
- Conference is a formal meeting for discussion, usually smaller than a convention.
- norm
- Norm is the typical standard of behavior, often unwritten and measured by what most people do.
Opposites
Word family
- conventional adjective
- following accepted ways
- conventionally adverb
- in the usual way
- unconventional adjective
- different from the usual way
- conventionality noun
- the quality of following accepted custom
Commonly confused: convention or convection? convention or convocation?
convention vs convection
Convection is the movement of heat through a liquid or gas, which is a science term unrelated to custom.
convention vs convocation
A convocation is a formal assembly, especially at a university, and is less common.
Practice
The writer ignored literary ______ and told the story backward.
Choose one answer.
Literary convention means the accepted way of writing, which she ignored. Contention, convection and invention have different meanings and do not fit with literary.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “convention”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.