Convention
noun ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A meeting or gathering. countable, uncountable
"The convention was held in Geneva."
- 2 the act of convening wordnet
- 3 A formal deliberative assembly of mandated delegates. countable, uncountable
"The EU installed an inter-institutional Convention to draft a European constitution."
- 4 orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional wordnet
- 5 The convening of a formal meeting. countable, uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 something regarded as a normative example wordnet
- 7 A formal agreement, contract, rule, or pact. countable, uncountable
- 8 (diplomacy) an international agreement wordnet
- 9 A treaty or supplement to such. countable, uncountable
"The Vienna convention at the Vienna Congress (1814-15) standardized most of diplomatic conduct for generations."
- 10 a large formal assembly wordnet
- 11 A practice or procedure widely observed in a group, especially to facilitate social interaction; a custom. countable, uncountable
"Table seatings are generally determined by tacit convention, not binding formal protocol."
Example
More examples"There was a convention last month."
Etymology
Recorded since about 1440, borrowed from Middle French convention, from Latin conventiō (“meeting, assembling; agreement, convention”), from conveniō (“come, gather or meet together, assemble”), from con- (“with, together”) + veniō (“come”). Equivalent to convene + -tion.
Related phrases
More for "convention"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.