meeting
Americannoun
-
the act of coming together.
a chance meeting in the park.
- Synonyms:
- rendezvous, confrontation, encounter
-
an assembly or conference of persons for a specific purpose.
a ten o'clock business meeting.
-
the body of persons present at an assembly or conference.
to read a report to the meeting.
-
a hostile encounter; duel.
-
an assembly for religious worship, especially of Quakers.
-
a place or point of contact; junction; juncture: the meeting of the waters.
the meeting of two roads;
the meeting of the waters.
idioms
noun
-
an act of coming together; encounter
-
an assembly or gathering
-
a conjunction or union
-
a sporting competition, as of athletes, or of horse racing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of meeting
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; meet 1 + -ing 1
Explanation
A meeting is the planned gathering of a group of people for a specific reason. You might attend a meeting for Trekkies who are all fans of "Star Trek," or you may decide to stay home and watch "Star Trek" reruns instead. Wise move. Meetings are arranged beforehand, and when you show up at one, there will be other people there for the same purpose. Your meeting might be your monthly book group or a quick huddle after work to plan your boss's surprise birthday party. Meeting can also mean "an encounter," like the chance meeting you have with your kindergarten teacher at the grocery store, or "the place things come together," like the meeting of two streams in your yard.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A hotter-than-expected CPI print for May could bolster the case for a Federal Reserve rate hike at Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as Chair next week.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
"A love that survives 78 years without meeting or even speaking to the person you love."
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
Public speakers at Tuesday’s City Council meeting also urged approval.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
The BBC travelled to Hsinchu Science Park, a dense cluster of fabrication plants or "fabs" north of the capital Taipei, for TSMC's annual shareholder meeting and for a rare interview with Huang.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
“I was there, wasn’t I? I heard him say ‘This meeting can do nothing further to save the country,’ and if there is one man we can trust in all of this, it’s Samuel Adams.”
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
