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Definition 2024


conventional_wisdom

conventional wisdom

English

Noun

conventional wisdom (plural conventional wisdoms)

  1. A belief or set of beliefs that is widely accepted, especially one which may be questionable on close examination.
    • 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society,
      It will be convenient to have a name for the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability, and it should be a term that emphasizes this predictability. I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the conventional wisdom.
    • 1971, “Week’s Watch,” Time, 17 May,
      So many Americans accept “zero population growth” as a new canon of conventional wisdom that it comes as a surprise to hear the notion disputed.

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