Yearly Meeting

American  

[yeer-lee mee-ting] / ˈyɪər li ˈmi tɪŋ /

noun

1. an organization of geographically separated Quaker congregations that assembles annually for spiritual guidance on matters of principle, policy, and administration.

   Uneasiness marked the Yearly Meeting as resolution eluded the issue of paying taxes that finance war.

---

Etymology

Origin of Yearly Meeting

First recorded in 1710–15

Example Sentences

Oskar Pierre Castro, who works for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and participated in the search committee that hired Ms. Sarawati told the Intercept that she had presented herself as a “queer, Muslim, multiethnic woman.”

From Washington Times • Feb. 21, 2023

The New England Yearly Meeting of Friends — a regional group of congregations — issued an apology last year for Quakers’ historic sponsorship of such schools, acknowledging they were undertaken with “spiritual and cultural arrogance.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 6, 2022

The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting heeded their message in 1758 and excluded all buyers and sellers of slaves from its leadership.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

Largest is the London Yearly Meeting, with 20,000 members.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1777 and 1779 "John Payne requests a certificate to attend North Carolina Yearly Meeting," then held at Old Neck, Perquimans county.

From Dorothy Payne, Quakeress A Side-Light upon the Career of 'Dolly' Madison by Barnard, Ella Kent