conference
noun
con·fer·ence
ˈkän-f(ə-)rən(t)s 
-fərn(t)s,
for sense 2 usually kən-ˈfər-ən(t)s
1
a
: 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
: bestowal, conferment
the conference of academic degrees
3
a
: 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
Synonyms
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
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) has unveiled programming for its third annual conference.
—
Taylor Mims, Billboard, 18 Apr. 2024
Younger generations may be aging prematurely, a new study presented at a conference by the American Association for Cancer Research found.
—Maggie O'Neill, Health, 18 Apr. 2024
To review: Teams that finish 1-6 in the standings in each conference are assured a playoff spot, and the teams that finish 7-10 enter the play-in tournament to battle for the No. 7 and 8 playoff seeds.
—Joe Davidson, Sacramento Bee, 17 Apr. 2024
The University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame will induct its 2024 class Thursday night at a banquet at the Watsco Center, the same building where one of the inductees, Shane Larkin, dazzled Hurricanes basketball fans and led UM to its first ACC regular-season and conference titles 11 years ago.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2024
But additional context is required, for Arizona’s $43.5 million deficit in 2023 wasn’t the steepest in the conference when removing university transfers from the calculation.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Google last month fired a worker who protested a speech by Google’s top executive in Israel at a conference in New York.
—Wendy Lee, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2024
At Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in London this week, Dr. Sunita Mishra said priorities for Amazon’s health care offering included transparency and ensuring customers’ trust.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2024
In addition to his performance, Killer Mike will appear as a speaker at the conference, addressing the need for freedom of expression.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 16 Apr. 2024
Taylor Mims, Billboard, 18 Apr. 2024
Younger generations may be aging prematurely, a new study presented at a conference by the American Association for Cancer Research found.
—Maggie O'Neill, Health, 18 Apr. 2024
To review: Teams that finish 1-6 in the standings in each conference are assured a playoff spot, and the teams that finish 7-10 enter the play-in tournament to battle for the No. 7 and 8 playoff seeds.
—Joe Davidson, Sacramento Bee, 17 Apr. 2024
The University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame will induct its 2024 class Thursday night at a banquet at the Watsco Center, the same building where one of the inductees, Shane Larkin, dazzled Hurricanes basketball fans and led UM to its first ACC regular-season and conference titles 11 years ago.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2024
But additional context is required, for Arizona’s $43.5 million deficit in 2023 wasn’t the steepest in the conference when removing university transfers from the calculation.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Google last month fired a worker who protested a speech by Google’s top executive in Israel at a conference in New York.
—Wendy Lee, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2024
At Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in London this week, Dr. Sunita Mishra said priorities for Amazon’s health care offering included transparency and ensuring customers’ trust.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2024
In addition to his performance, Killer Mike will appear as a speaker at the conference, addressing the need for freedom of expression.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 16 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'conference.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near conference
Cite this Entry
“Conference.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conference. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
conference
noun
con·fer·ence
ˈkän-f(ə-)rən(t)s
-fərn(t)s
1
: a meeting for discussion or exchange of opinions
also
: the discussion itself
2
: a meeting of members of the two branches of a legislature to settle differences
3
: an association of athletic teams
a football conference
Legal Definition
conference
noun
con·fer·ence
ˈkän-frəns, -fə-rəns
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
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