conference
Americannoun
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conferences
plural
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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:
Bass, appearing Wednesday at a news conference in Hollywood, said she’s seen multiple polls that show a tight race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Meta Platforms, whose new Muse AI agent has driven the stock prices of the tech sector this week, got a price-target boost after showcasing products at its Connect conference on Wednesday night.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
At its Made on YouTube conference this week, the company is announcing a new feature that could help creators reach the right audience at the right moment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Speaking at a news conference in Lisbon, Portugal boss Jesus described Ronaldo as a "symbol of Portugal and the national team".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Chip was at a dentist’s appointment, so they hadn’t been able to share the news about the conference with him yet.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Between the two news conferences, Klopp looked like the busiest national team boss on the planet, making countless visits to league games and training facilities.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Cramer has been going to conferences related to extraterrestrial matters for years, and he knows that his audiences have always been “outside the mainstream.”
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Past Fed news conferences sometimes had the feel of a college seminar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
If Messi could not be ignored on the pitch, he has never sought the spotlight off it, preferring family time to interviews or news conferences.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
The first of these conferences was held in a room that didn’t exist.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
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
Gomes telephoned his mother, who then allegedly conferenced Price into the call, prosecutors said.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 24, 2020
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 also bumped up its guidance for the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
You’ll have no trouble streaming 4K content, downloading large files or video conferencing on these connections.
From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2025
We connect via video conferencing software, her location in the U.S. a secret, and Mariya appears in her anime form, her silver-white hair occasionally obscuring her welcoming oval eyes, which blink often as she speaks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025
Sharoudi became friends with Hush, who was telecommunications manager at NHS Lothian and then NHS Scotland video conferencing manager.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2025
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.
