conformity

From Middle French conformité.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈfɔɹmɪti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈfɔːmɪti/
• Hyphenation: con‧for‧mi‧ty

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conformity (countable and uncountable, plural conformities)

1. The state of things being similar or identical.

   Synonyms: homogeneity, uniformity; see also Thesaurus:uniformity

2. A point of resemblance; a similarity.
3. The state of being conforming, of complying with a set of rules, with a norm or standard.

   Synonyms: compliance, conformance; see also Thesaurus:conformity

4. The ideology of adhering to one standard or social uniformity.
   • 1967, Tynan, Kenneth, Tynan Right and Left:

     How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it another way: at what point does conformity become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define itself.

• Sometimes used interchangeably with conformation.

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “conformity”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.