convenance

[ kon-vuh-nahns; French kawnvuh-nahns ]
See synonyms for convenance on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural con·ve·nanc·es [kon-vuh-nahn-siz; French kawnvuh-nahns]. /ˈkɒn vəˌnɑn sɪz; French kɔ̃vəˈnɑ̃s/.
  1. suitability; expediency; propriety.

  2. convenances, the social proprieties or conventionalities.

Origin of convenance

1
1475–85; <Anglo-French, equivalent to conven(ir) to be proper + -ance-ance

Words Nearby convenance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use convenance in a sentence

  • Nevertheless, since she married—as girls in France do—not to please herself, but her parents, she made a mariage de convenance.

    Night and Morning, Complete | Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • He was thinking of this marriage de convenance he must make, of this bride he must one day take home to England.

    A Changed Heart | May Agnes Fleming
  • Of course I shall have to marry one day or other, but I'm afraid it will be what the French call a mariage de convenance.

    By Right of Conquest | Arthur Hornblow
  • This mariage de convenance brought no happiness to the parties concerned, and ended in completely crushing the unloved wife.

    Chantilly in History and Art | Louise M. Richter
  • It was a mariage de convenance—there'd been no wooing, no winning.

    Tales Of Men And Ghosts | Edith Wharton

British Dictionary definitions for convenance

convenance

/ French (kɔ̃vnɑ̃s) /


noun
  1. suitable behaviour; propriety

Origin of convenance

1
from convenir to be suitable, from Latin convenīre; see convenient

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012