Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Conventionalism \Con*ven"tion*al*ism\, n.
   1. That which is received or established by convention or
      arbitrary agreement; that which is in accordance with the
      fashion, tradition, or usage.

            All the artifice and conventionalism of life.
                                                  --Hawthorne.

            They gaze on all with dead, dim eyes, -- wrapped in
            conventionalisms, . . . simulating feelings
            according to a received standart.     --F. W.
                                                  Robertson.

   2. (Fine Arts) The principles or practice of
      conventionalizing. See {Conventionalize}, v. t.

Source : WordNet®

conventionalism
     n : orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional [syn: {conventionality},
          {convention}] [ant: {unconventionality}]