Eggcorn Forum

“Conclave,” a group locked up together (L. con + clavis, key ), has a special meaning in Roman Catholic tradition: it is a group of cardinals locked up in a Vatican hall to elect the next pope. But as early as the fifteenth century the term was being used more generally to refer to a private room or a meeting that might be held in a private room.

A number of web page authors think the word is “concave.” Hard to see any semantic reinforcement between concave = conclave and concave = opposite of convex. But for those not grokking the whole word, the “cave” part may be tendentious. A cave is a room.

Examples:

Book summary: “An account is given of Sitting Bull and his reasons for calling a concave of the Tetons in the Big Horn country.”

Gaming forum: “ For example, when I run up a ramp with a bunch of stuff and then the opponent FGs the ramp and has a concave of roaches, I have no good way to respond to that”

Powerpoint history slide: “Armament Race Intense nationalism led Europe into a concave of vast armed camps.”