seminar
Americannoun
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a small group of students, as in a university, engaged in advanced study and original research under a member of the faculty and meeting regularly to exchange information and hold discussions.
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the gathering place of such a group.
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a meeting of such a group.
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a course or subject of study for advanced graduate students.
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any meeting for exchanging information and holding discussions.
noun
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a small group of students meeting regularly under the guidance of a tutor, professor, etc, to exchange information, discuss theories, etc
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one such meeting or the place in which it is held
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a higher course for postgraduates
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any group or meeting for holding discussions or exchanging information
Etymology
Origin of seminar
1885–90, < German < Latin sēminārium seminary
Explanation
A seminar means a class or meeting, but it carries with it extra weight. An educational seminar indicates a small, advanced study, while a meeting labeled as such means an intense exchange of ideas. The Latin seminarium originally referred to a plant nursery, a place of great growth. From this came the German seminar, referring to a formal educational group led by a professor. While university seminars are most frequently small-group studies of a particular issue, the word is also applied to large lectures and commercial pitches. Like the seminar you attended on how to get rich by selling carrot peelers to your neighbors.
Vocabulary lists containing seminar
The Vocabulary of College
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #4
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: semi-
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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.
In March, she performed at the Country Radio Seminar, an annual event in Nashville that brings together program directors and other music business bigwigs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
The estranged spouses also signed a “Marital Dissolution Agreement” that includes a parenting plan, child support worksheet and a “Parenting Seminar Order,” according to TMZ, which broke the divorce news.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 2025
"I have come to the conclusion that there's nothing non-political in the world. Politics is simply anything that is controversial and everything in the world is controversial," he wrote in Seminar magazine in 1976.
From BBC • Jul. 7, 2025
Ren and Majumdar began collaborating with Zeng after he gave a talk as part of the Princeton Robotics Seminar series, said Majumdar.
From Science Daily • Nov. 28, 2023
We are ditching our Sociology Seminar, and Kara is filling every space with nervous chatter, and when she laughs her black bobbed hair shakes like a skirt at her shoulders.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
