conventional wisdom

noun

"conventional-wisdom" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“conventional wisdom” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
19
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A belief or set of beliefs that is widely accepted, especially one which may be questionable on close examination.

Key facts for conventional wisdom
PropertyValue
Headwordconventional wisdom
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters19
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “conventional wisdom” sits in English frequency

conventional wisdom falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

conventional wisdom is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A belief or set of beliefs that is widely accepted, especially one which may be questionable on close examination.".

Zero misspellings are on record for conventional wisdom in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is conventional wisdom, spelled C-O-N-V-E-N-T-I-O-N-A-L- -W-I-S-D-O-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    A belief or set of beliefs that is widely accepted, especially one which may be questionable on close examination.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "conventional wisdom"?
"conventional wisdom" is spelled C-O-N-V-E-N-T-I-O-N-A-L- -W-I-S-D-O-M.
What does "conventional wisdom" mean?
As a noun, "conventional wisdom" means: A belief or set of beliefs that is widely accepted, especially one which may be questionable on close examination.
What language does "conventional wisdom" come from?
"conventional wisdom" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “conventional wisdom”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-V-E-N-T-I-O-N-A-L- -W-I-S-D-O-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list