conventional wisdom

noun

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Examples: conventional wisdom in a Sentence

Definition of conventional wisdom

: the generally accepted belief, opinion, judgment, or prediction about a particular matter

See conventional wisdom defined for English-language learners

Examples of conventional wisdom in a Sentence

Conventional wisdom in Hollywood says that a movie can't succeed unless it stars a famous actor or actress.

Recent Examples of conventional wisdom from the Web

But the conventional wisdom about busyness is wrong.

— bradley r. staats, WSJ, "Don’t Just Dive Into Action: Stop to Think First," 6 July 2018
Until fairly recently, the conventional wisdom was that highly efficient natural gas furnaces were the environmentally preferable option, given that electrical appliances often draw on coal-heavy grid power (and fuel oil is just filthy).

— david roberts, Vox, "Most American homes are still heated with fossil fuels. It’s time to electrify.," 2 July 2018
For decades, the conventional wisdom has been to banish aligoté from consideration as a distinctive, or at least interesting, wine.

— eric asimov, New York Times, "The Aligoté Defense Rests," 28 June 2018
According to the conventional wisdom of the internet, there’s one simple guideline for responding to trolls: don’t feed them.

— film crit hulk, The Verge, "Don’t feed the trolls, and other hideous lies," 12 July 2018
But conventional wisdom says doing so might encourage more protests in the future.

— ted slowik, Daily Southtown, "Slowik: Protesting is noble, but shutting down the Dan Ryan is pointless," 5 July 2018
Image According to conventional wisdom, audiences for documentaries live on the coasts and vote Democratic.

— john anderson, New York Times, "Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mister Rogers: Hollywood’s Newest Breakout Stars," 26 June 2018
Before the tournament, conventional wisdom said that the top four teams in this World Cup were better than the top four in recent World Cups.

— grant wahl, SI.com, "Favorites Continue to Stumble, Set Pieces Vital, Mexico Electric at World Cup," 17 June 2018
Contrary to conventional wisdom, refusing PAC money hasn't stopped several of them from raising more money than their opponents.

— nicole gaudiano, USA TODAY, "As more Dems reject corporate PAC money, a Texas Senate candidate's PAC-free campaign pays off," 17 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'conventional wisdom.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.