conventional
123
4.4
- adjective
- /kənˈvɛnʃənl/
- Specialized
:
convencional
- An emphasis on nuclear weapons produced a cheaper military than one based on conventional weapons.
- conventional weapons
- conventional forces
- conventional warfare
So you, the way that on that deployment, I worked with conventional forces mainly.
- So you, the way that on that deployment, I worked with conventional forces mainly.
- They see nuclear weapons as their trump card in a conventional fight, and they have said so.
- So he started farming us out to all these conventional Army units.
- And it just would be hard for us to sustain any protracted conventional war.
- Right now we have a conventional war that's occurring between Ukraine, armed by NATO and Russia.
Examples
-
No, we have to proceed with conventional containment.
-
The prospect of a conventional war with Iran is not credible.
Academic text (2011) -
He cannot be destroyed by conventional means, but I have a plan.
-
Right now we have a conventional war that's occurring between Ukraine, armed by NATO and Russia.
-
Without national technical means, compliance with strategic and conventional arms treaties could not be effectively monitored.
Academic text (1990) -
Since then, both nuclear and large-scale conventional combat have become improbable dangers.
Academic text (2011) -
Conventional weapons won't work.
-
Insurgents will not employ the rules of conventional warfare, and tactical errors will never go unpunished.
Academic text (2011) -
For much of the independence wars, the insurgents forsook conventional warfare and adopted hit-and-run guerrilla tactics.
Academic text (1990) -
Using conventional weapons, the army launched an attack on the enemy base.
Synonyms
1
3.9
Not using energy made by splitting atoms or weapons using that energy
Antonyms
How Destructive
- Specialized
6
8.3
- Specialized
240
3.7
233
4.6
- Specialized
123
4.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
conventional = convention (opaque) = convene + al
The form is regular suffixation from 'convention', but the military sense 'not nuclear' is a specialized contrast term that is not predictable from the base word alone.
Etymology
Conventional (about weapons) comes from the same root as convention and convene, which mean 'to come together' and 'an agreement'. From the idea of 'agreement' came the sense of 'usual' or 'standard', so conventional weapons are the ordinary, non-nuclear arms used in war.