colloquium

noun col·lo·qui·um \ kə-ˈlō-kwē-əm \

Updated on: 8 Mar 2018

Definition of colloquium

plural colloquiums or -quia play \kə-ˈlō-kwē-ə\

: a usually academic meeting at which specialists deliver addresses on a topic or on related topics and then answer questions relating to them

… a nine-session scholar-led colloquium to introduce teachers to literary texts by and about minorities …
—Bruce Fraser

Recent Examples of colloquium from the Web

He was permitted to return to CWRU in 2009 for a colloquium.

— karen farkas, cleveland.com, "Physicist Lawrence Krauss had access restricted at Case Western Reserve University in 2009 after sexual harassment accusation, BuzzFeed reports," 26 Feb. 2018
PhD candidate Christine Nittrouer and a team did a survey of 50 top U.S. universities and analyzed the colloquium speakers from the biology, bioengineering, political science, history, psychology, and sociology departments.

— ellen mcgirt, Fortune, "raceAhead: Ta-Nehisi Coates Quits Twitter," 19 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'colloquium.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

A colloquy is a conversation, and especially an important, high-level discussion. Colloquy and colloquium once meant the same thing, though today colloquium always refers to a conference. Because of its old "conversation" meaning, however, a colloquium is a type of conference with important question-and-answer periods.