convention Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a large formal assembly
    • political convention
  2. noun something regarded as a normative example
    formula; pattern; normal; rule.
    • the convention of not naming the main character
    • violence is the rule not the exception
    • his formula for impressing visitors
  3. noun (diplomacy) an international agreement
  4. noun orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional
    conventionality; conventionalism.
  5. noun the act of convening
    convening.

WordNet

Con*ven"tion noun
Etymology
L. conventio: cf. F. convention. See Convene, v. i.
Definitions
  1. The act of coming together; the state of being together; union; coalition.
    The conventions or associations of several particles of matter into bodies of any certain denomination. Boyle.
  2. General agreement or concurrence; arbitrary custom; usage; conventionality.
    There are thousands now Such women, but convention beats them down. Tennyson.
  3. A meeting or an assembly of persons, esp. of delegates or representatives, to accomplish some specific object, -- civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical.
    He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand convention of his nobles. Sir R. Baker.
    A convention of delegates from all the States, to meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of reserving the federal system, and correcting its defects. W. Irving.
  4. (Eng. Hist) An extraordinary assembly of the parkiament or estates of the realm, held without the king's writ, -- as the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne, and that which declared the throne to be abdicated by James II.
    Our gratitude is due . . . to the Long Parliament, to the Convention, and to William of Orange. Macaulay.
  5. An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary to, a traety; an informal compact, as between commanders of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or between states; also, a formal agreement between governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convetion between two governments.
    This convention, I think from my soul, is nothing but a stipulation for national ignominy; a truce without a suspension of hostilities. Ld. Chatham.
    The convention with the State of georgia has been ratified by their Legislature. T. Jefferson.

Webster 1913