conference

noun

con·fer·ence | \ ˈkän-f(ə-)rən(t)s

, -fərn(t)s, for sense 2 usually kən-ˈfər-ən(t)s\

Definition of conference

1a : a meeting of two or more persons for discussing matters of common concern The president is in conference with his advisers.

b : a usually formal interchange of views : consultation a conference on climate change

c : a meeting of members of the two branches of a legislature to adjust differences

d : caucus

2 or less commonly conferrence \ kən-ˈfər-ən(t)s

\ : bestowal, conferment the conference of academic degrees

3a : a representative assembly or administrative organization of a religious denomination

b : a territorial division of a religious denomination

4 : an association of athletic teams a football conference

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Examples of conference in a Sentence

The organization held its annual conference in New York this year. national conferences on women's health a conference of foreign ministers Our boss called a conference to discuss the new changes. He spent an hour in conference with the president. the champions of the American Football Conference

Recent Examples on the Web

This became even more clear one afternoon, when designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, famous for dressing Bollywood stars, made a comment at a conference that went viral. — Meara Sharma, Vogue, "Why I Am Taking the Sari Back to the Street," 30 Apr. 2019 That was the last time Milwaukee won a playoff series until the Ray Allen-led Bucks went to the conference finals in 2001. — Noah Trister, The Seattle Times, "Top-seeded Bucks start postseason journey against Detroit," 13 Apr. 2019 Here, a theme at the CNI conference, the nature of luxury, took on a whole new meaning for me. — Vogue, "Wendy Yu Visits Capetown for a Fashionable Conference," 24 Apr. 2019 Zendaya told audiences at Vogue’s Forces of Fashion conference back in October and true to her word, the star is blazing her own trail. — Janelle Okwodu, Vogue, "Zendaya and Grace Jones Just Brought Black Girl Magic to Paris Fashion Week," 2 Mar. 2019 Penn’s work has been recognized by multiple awards and her speaking engagements have taken her from conferences in Indonesia to the TedX stage. — Tyler Wetherall, Condé Nast Traveler, "The All-Women Sailing Crew Trying to Save the Ocean of Plastic," 27 Nov. 2018 People have to pull out of the conference for optics. — Theodore Schleifer, Recode, "Why Silicon Valley investors just can’t quit Saudi money," 25 Oct. 2018 In his capacity as president of the U.S. conference, DiNardo has been outspoken in calling for greater protections for children and accountability. — Nicole Winfield, Fox News, "US bishops to meet pope amid crisis in confidence over abuse," 13 Sep. 2018 No one can argue about the relative strength of the conference/division because everyone with a legitimate claim on the championship will get a chance to play in the tournament. — Andy Staples, SI.com, "‘Strategic Entertainment’ vs. Entertaining Entertainment: The Flip Side of the NFL-CFB Debate," 11 July 2018

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

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Last Updated

23 May 2019

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Time Traveler for conference

The first known use of conference was in 1527

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More Definitions for conference

conference

noun

English Language Learners Definition of conference

: a formal meeting in which many people gather in order to talk about ideas or problems related to a particular topic (such as medicine or business) usually for several days

: a formal meeting in which a small number of people talk about something

US : a group of sports teams that play against each other and that are part of a larger league of teams

See the full definition for conference in the English Language Learners Dictionary

conference

noun

con·fer·ence | \ ˈkän-fə-rəns

, -frəns\

Kids Definition of conference

: a meeting for discussion or exchange of opinions

conference

noun

con·fer·ence | \ ˈkän-frəns, -fə-rəns

Legal Definition of conference

1 : a meeting for consultation, deliberation, discussion, or interchange of opinions a conference on environmental law — see also judicial conference, pretrial conference

2 : a meeting of members of the two branches of a legislature especially to adjust differences in the provisions of a bill passed in different forms by the two branches also : conference committee

3 : caucus