Meaning & use
conventional morality
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Meanings
noununcountable
The set of right-and-wrong beliefs that most people in a society accept and follow without questioning.
Grammar: No plural; takes a singular verb: conventional morality is changing.
Patterns
- conventional morality demands something
- challenge conventional morality
- a matter of conventional morality
In many societies, conventional morality says you should not lie to your parents.
The novel shocked readers by challenging the conventional morality of the time.
She argued that conventional morality often protects the powerful rather than the weak.
noununcountabletechnical
In psychology, the stage where a person follows rules to earn approval or keep social order.
Grammar: Used in theories of moral development; usually with 'stage of' or 'level of'.
Patterns
- the stage of conventional morality
- reach conventional morality
- conventional morality in children
Lawrence Kohlberg described conventional morality as the second level of moral reasoning.
Teenagers often move into conventional morality, caring deeply about what friends think.
At the conventional morality stage, people obey rules to be seen as good.
Common combinations
- conventional morality
- Conventional morality changes slowly over generations.
- challenge conventional morality
- Artists often challenge conventional morality through their work.
- accepted by conventional morality
- That behavior was once accepted by conventional morality but is now criticized.
- a sense of conventional morality
- He has a strong sense of conventional morality and rarely breaks rules.
- conventional morality versus personal ethics
- The course compares conventional morality with personal ethics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- traditional morality
- Similar, but stresses long-established customs rather than what most people currently accept.
- social norms
- Broader: covers all unwritten rules of behavior, not only right and wrong.
- mores
- Formal and stronger; refers to the most serious customs of a group.
Opposites
Word family
- conventional adjective
- Following what is usual or accepted.
- morality noun
- Principles about right and wrong behavior.
- moral adjective
- Concerned with right and wrong.
- moralize verb
- To tell others how they should behave, often disapprovingly.
Commonly confused: conventional morality or customary morality?
conventional morality vs customary morality
Not a standard phrase; use 'conventional morality' or 'traditional morality' instead.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'conventional morality' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 1 is correct because 'conventional morality' is an uncountable noun meaning shared beliefs about right and wrong. Option 0 is wrong because 'a conventional morality' is not used for a small personal habit; option 2 treats it as a physical object; option 3 uses a plural verb with an uncountable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conventional morality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.