- present participle of meet.
meeting
Americannoun
-
meetings
plural
-
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Lapointe's inquiry helped prompt a group of French researchers to identify the lake area as the center of a potential 11th known impact structure in Quebec at a 2024 meeting of the Meteoritical Society.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Jenner was elected by Reform MSs in a meeting on Monday, and was unveiled by UK party leader Nigel Farage on the Senedd steps.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Oil prices rose on fading optimism about talks between the U.S. and Iran at this week’s United Nations meeting, while Asian equities inched higher as artificial-intelligence sentiment strengthened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The action rewinds from Gretta and Dan’s initial meeting at the bar, and later fast–forwards to speed up some of the more boring bits of the album-writing process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
I was just about flying through the air, on my way to a not-too-friendly meeting with the ground and some good-sized, sharp-edged stones.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
“There’s potential for market-moving news at the U.S.-China meetings, but our best bet is that progress, and any resultant market reaction, will be minor,” he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The president’s actions stand to color the backdrop of a week that will feature meetings with world leaders at the U.N. and a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
During meetings to discuss the dolls, Bob often would regale us with stories of celebrities he worked with, complete with dish about who was fun to work with and who was more “challenging.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The draw also ended England's 100% home record against Canada, having won each of their previous 13 home meetings.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
He called her Betty and sent her French sonnets, as well as ardent lines about midnight meetings, written in a bold, dashing hand.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
