conference
Americannoun
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conferences
plural
-
a meeting for consultation or discussion.
a conference between a student and his adviser.
- Synonyms:
- colloquium, parley
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the act of conferring or consulting together; consultation, especially on an important or serious matter.
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Government. a meeting, as of various committees, to settle disagreements between the two branches of the legislature.
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an association of athletic teams; league.
an intercollegiate conference.
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Ecclesiastical.
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an official assembly of clergy or of clergy and laity, customary in many Christian denominations.
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a group of churches whose representatives regularly meet in such an assembly.
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verb (used without object)
noun
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a meeting for consultation, exchange of information, or discussion, esp one with a formal agenda
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a formal meeting of two or more states, political groups, etc, esp to discuss differences or formulate common policy
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an assembly of the clergy or of clergy and laity of any of certain Protestant Christian Churches acting as representatives of their denomination
the Methodist conference
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sport a league or division of clubs or teams
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rare an act of bestowal
Synonym Usage
See convention.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of conference
From the Medieval Latin word conferentia, dating back to 1530–40. See confer, -ence
Explanation
A conference is a formal get-together where people talk (or "confer") about a chosen topic, like when your office holds a conference to talk about the problem of snoring during meetings. A conference can also be a public meeting arranged for discussion, such as a press conference or a national conference for a particular group. For example, you may no longer have much interest in 18th-century coins, but you still attend the annual conference for coin collectors because it is always held at a hotel in Aruba. A conference can also refer to a sports league, such as for baseball or football.
Vocabulary lists containing conference
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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"The American Pageant," Vocabulary from Chapters 30-32
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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.
See Examples For:
The companies said they would present their data at an upcoming international conference and begin filings with regulators for approval.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The Unitree IPO coincided with the start of an annual robot conference in Beijing, where hundreds of robots were competing in athletic events and real-world chores such as sorting warehouse merchandise and folding laundry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
At a news conference after the ruling, Essayli said, “I think the judge has made clear, regardless of my title, I have the authority to run this office.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
"We will track you to the departure gates if we must," he said at a news conference in Lagos.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The next day, Presidium members met in a conference room in the Kremlin, a complex of government buildings in Moscow.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Mr. Warsh resolutely refuses to be goaded into making news at post-FOMC press conferences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Cuba's Communist Party has spent the week celebrating the late revolutionary leader with exhibitions, concerts and conferences.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Powell’s era was characterized by higher volatility after press conferences, compared with those of predecessors Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
WorldPride is a major international event featuring marches, human rights conferences and cultural festivals.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
In the old days there were no television cameras, and most ANC press conferences were conducted clandestinely.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
He whispered to one of his attorneys while his lead lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, conferenced with the judge and prosecutors at the front of the courtroom.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
Which gets us to that footnote, in which Justice Alito writes, “That constitutional question was argued and conferenced nearly seven months ago.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
On Dec. 9, the court conferenced and took a split vote.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2023
Buck’s petition is expected to be conferenced by the U.S.
From Time ● Apr. 20, 2016
I have already conferenced with Rae, and now Ethan’s conference is going over.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
The video conferencing company said it had 30% growth in its channel pipeline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
Contracts awarded to Oricom Ltd, founded by Adam Sharoudi and Gavin Brown, for telecoms and video conferencing equipment between 2010 and 2017 breached rules on financial wrongdoing during the tendering process.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2025
Neufeld is in the process of fine-tuning a Zoom-based edition of “Code Green,” hoping the video conferencing service could help expose it to nonstudents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2024
It lets me record calls by conferencing in a third-party number.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2024
After sitting for an interview, Nilekani gave our TV crew a tour of Infosys’s global conferencing center—ground zero of the Indian outsourcing industry.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
