convention

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Agreement or statement, expressed or implied, that is used to solve given types of problems. Conventions allow a standardized approach to problem solving and behavior in certain situations.
An example of a convention is placing debits on the left side and credits on the right side of an account. The accountant performs daily functions by following conventions such as format guidelines in the preparation of financial statements.

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noun

1. A formal assemblage of the members of a group: assembly, conference, congress, convocation, meeting. See assemble/disassemble.
2. A number of persons who have come or been gathered together: assemblage, assembly, body, company, conclave, conference, congregation, congress, convocation, crowd, gathering, group, meeting, muster, troop. Informal get-together. See collect/distribute.
3. A legally binding arrangement between parties: agreement, bond, compact, contract, covenant, pact. See agree/disagree.
4. A formal, usually written settlement between nations: accord, agreement, concord, pact, treaty. See agree/disagree, politics.
5. An accepted way of doing something: form. See usual/unusual.

n

Definition: agreement
Antonyms: disagreement, discord

n

Definition: practice, tradition
Antonyms: strangeness

(1) A meeting of persons with a common concern or purpose, for example the intention to create a constitution. (See also party convention.)
(2) A shared practice, or a practice widely followed, usually in the absence of any written prescription and sometimes without the backing of (formal) sanctions. Conventions governing property and government were especially important in the writings of Hume, for whom they provided an alternative explanation of political institutions to the (for him) discredited theory of a social contract. Conventions have also been important to anarchist writers as examples of social cooperation in the absence of centralized coercion. The unwritten ‘constitution’ of the United Kingdom is often described as conventional, meaning that it is thought appropriate to do what has been done before. Here it is not so much that a practice is widely followed (as there may be few examples of a particular situation having arisen) as that there is a general inclination to follow alleged precedents. Because of the possibilities of uncoerced social cooperation apparently offered by conventions, the dynamics of their emergence have attracted sociological and philosophical attention. See also nature.

— Andrew Reeve

convention, an established practice—whether in technique, style, structure, or subject‐matter—commonly adopted in literary works by customary and implicit agreement or precedent rather than by natural necessity. The clearest cases of the ‘unnatural’ devices known as conventions appear in drama, where the audience implicitly agrees to suspend its disbelief and to regard the stage as a battlefield or kitchen, the actors as historical monarchs or fairy godmothers; likewise author and audience observe an unwritten agreement that a character speaking an aside cannot be heard by other characters on stage. But conventions are, in less immediately striking ways, essential to poetry and to prose fiction as well: the use of metre, rhyme, and stanzaic forms is conventional, as are the narrative techniques of the short story (e.g. the neat or surprising ending) and the novel (including chronological presentation and point of view), and the stock characters of both fiction and drama. Some dramatic and literary forms are clearly composed of very elaborate or very recognizable conventions: opera, melodrama, kabuki, the pastoral elegy, the chivalric romance, the detective story, and the Gothic novel are instances. In these and other cases an interrelated set of conventions in both form and content has constituted a genre. Since the advent of Romanticism and of realism in the 19th century, however, it has become less apparent (although no less true) that literature is conventional, because realism—and later, naturalism—attempted as far as possible to diminish or conceal those conventions considered unlifelike while Romanticism tried to discard those that were insincere, thus giving rise to that pejorative sense of ‘conventional’ which devalues traditionally predictable forms. As much modern criticism has to argue, such rebellions against conventions are fated to generate new conventions of their own, which may be less elaborate and less noticeable in their time. This does not render innovation futile, since the new conventions will often be appropriate to changed conditions, but it does mean that while some literary works may be ‘unconventional’, none can be conventionless. Literary theorists (notably those influenced by structuralism) tend to confirm the inevitability of conventions by appealing to modern linguistics, which claims that languages can produce meanings only from ‘ arbitrary’ or conventional signs.

The influential analysis of David Lewis suggests that a regularity holds as a matter of convention when it solves a problem of co-ordination in a group. This means that it is to the benefit of each member to conform to the regularity, providing the others do so. Any number of solutions to such a problem may exist. For example, it is to the advantage of each of us to drive on the same side of the road as others, but indifferent whether we all drive on the right or the left. One solution or another may emerge for a variety of reasons. It is notable that on this account conventions may arise naturally; they do not have to be the result of specific agreement. This frees the notion for use in thinking about such things as the origin of language or money or of political society itself. See also conventionalism.

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

An agreement or compact, particularly an international agreement, such as the Geneva Convention. An accord between states or nations, which resembles a treaty: ordinarily applied to agreements prior to an execution of an official treaty or which serve as its foundation; or to international agreements for the regulation of international affairs of common interest not within the ambit of commercial transactions or politics, such as international postage. An agreement between states concerning finance, trade, or other matters considered less significant than those usually governed by a treaty. An assembly or meeting of representatives or members of legislative, political, or fraternal organizations.

A constitutional convention is an assembly of representatives or delegates of the people of a state or nation, convened for the purpose of framing, altering, or amending its constitution. Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides that a constitutional convention may be convoked on application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states.

A judicial convention is an assembly of judges of the superior courts (courts of general jurisdiction), empowered in some states to meet during specified periods to adopt uniform rules of practice. The powers of the convention are restricted to making necessary rules that conform to the provisions of the relevant statute. Revision or abrogation of any rule of practice established by statute is prohibited.

A legislative convention is a congregation of representatives or delegates selected by the people for extraordinary and special legislative objectives, such as the framing or alteration of a state constitution.

A political convention is an assembly of delegates designated by a political party to nominate candidates for a pending election.

IN BRIEF: A meeting of members or delegates.

Mr. Gregory enjoyed attending his club's annual convention.

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Nonlegal rules of conduct with respect to other persons generally. In a professional sense means rules of conduct in relation to clients.

For a list of words related to convention, see:

• Elections and Campaigns - convention: assembly of delegates to nominate candidates for office and draft platform, usu. for one party
• Diplomacy and Diplomats - convention: general agreement among states regarding matters of common concern, less binding than treaty
• Attitudes and Behavior - convention: customary social practice or rule
• Entertainments and Spectacles - convention: annual gathering of members of an industry or trade to exhibit new products
• Reason and Rationale - convention: general agreement in principle
• Order, Hierarchy, and Systems - convention: standard rule or practice

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See words rhyming with "convention."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Convention.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - aftale, konvention, møde, kongres, traktat, overenskomst, sammenkomst

Nederlands (Dutch)
conventie, conferentie, het bijeenroepen/-komen

Français (French)
n. - convention, assemblée, convenances, congrès, congrès d'un parti, réunion politique, assises, convention (littéraire, théâtrale), accord (sur)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Konvention, Sitte, Brauch, Abkommen, Konferenz

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - συνέδριο, συνθήκη, σύμβαση, (κοινωνική) σύμβαση, συμβατικότητα, εθιμοτυπία, πρότυπο αισθητικής ή τεχνοτροπίας

Italiano (Italian)
convenzione, congresso

Português (Portuguese)
n. - convenção (f)

Русский (Russian)
условность, обычай, конвенция, конгресс, конференция

Español (Spanish)
n. - convención, convenio, tratado, congreso, asamblea

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - konvent, sammankomst, partikonvent (am.), överenskommelse, uppgörelse, fördrag, konvention, konventionalism

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
大会, 习俗, 协定

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 大會, 習俗, 協定

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 대표자 회의, (정당간의) 합의, 사회예술상의 관행, 전당대회

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 会議, 大会, 党大会, 協定, 約束事, ルール, 慣習, 因習

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اجتماع أو مؤتمر لغرض معين, عرف, تقليد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ועידה, שגרה, נוהג, אמנה, הסכם‬

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