From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English(the) conventional wisdom(the) conventional wisdomEVERYONEthe opinion that most people consider to be normal and right, but that is sometimes shown to be wrong As traffic grew, the conventional wisdom was to widen the roads. → conventional
Examples from the Corpus
(the) conventional wisdom• All that, at least, is the conventional wisdom.• Keynes, as we shall see presently, was on his way to being the new fountainhead of conventional wisdom.• He set out a scenario which ran against the conventional wisdom at the time.• Around here, the conventional wisdom is that the number and volume of charges are more politically important than subsequent facts.• As usual, conventional wisdom may not be wholly right.• But the conventional wisdom might be wrong.• The conventional wisdom of the late 1970s blamed Britain's high unemployment on the trade unions, which priced workers out of jobs.• They had broken decisively with the conventional wisdom of the traditionalist and mercantilist society.• Conventional wisdom says that gang members must be reached early to change.