congress
Pluralcongresses
Pluralcongresses
Formscongresses, congressing, congressed
- 1The lawmaking body of a state, especially the two-chamber legislature of the United States.
The congress passed sweeping reforms before its summer recess.
Brazil's congress is divided into two chambers, much like its American counterpart.
UsageFor the US body, usually no article: Congress passed the bill, a member of Congress.
Similarparliament, legislature
Note
A name that began with one institution and spread: the legislature of the United States, which had a single chamber until 1789, lent it to lawmaking bodies elsewhere. Legislature is the neutral cover term, while assembly, parliament and congress are the names particular states give their own.
- 2A formal assembly or conference convened to discuss or decide a particular question.
Delegates at the international congress debated new climate targets for three days.
The party held its annual congress to choose a new leader.
Similarconference, convention, assembly, summit, conclave
- 3A formal association, especially an umbrella body made up of other associations or of delegates from interest groups.
The labor congress unites unions from every major industry.
A congress of regional bodies coordinates policy across the country.
Similarfederation, council, union
Note
Most often met inside proper names, where an umbrella body calls itself a congress, as in the National Congress of American Indians. Its closest synonym is federation. Both suggest a body made up mainly of groups or their representatives, though such bodies may also admit individuals who join on their own account.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Less common meanings
- 4To meet or gather together, especially in a formal assembly.
Note
A verb made from the noun rather than taken directly from Latin, so its forms follow the regular pattern: congresses, congressing, congressed. It covers any gathering together, not only a meeting held as a formal congress.
- 5Sexual intercourse between people.
The marriage was annulled because the couple denied any congress had taken place.
Not three weeks before this he was run out of Fort Smith Arkansas for having congress with a goat. Yes lady, that is what I said. Goat.
1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood MeridianUsageUsually have congress with someone or sexual congress. It sounds stiff, so it can be used for comic effect.
Similarintercourse, coitus, copulation, coupling, relations
Note
Its stiffness can be put to comic use. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985) has Judge Holden claim that a preacher was run out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, for having congress with a goat, and the joke lands because the formal word meets so low a deed. Outside such deliberate effects it can sound arch or evasive.
He was accused of having congress with the farmer's daughter.
The old physician wrote delicately of the couple's congress with each other.
- 6A group of baboons regarded collectively.
A congress of baboons descended on the campsite looking for food.
Two congresses of baboons competed for the same waterhole.
UsageAlmost always in the phrase a congress of baboons; the everyday word for the group is troop.
Similartroop
Note
One of English's collective nouns for particular animals. It borrows its picture from the formal assembly, casting a troop of baboons as a gathering of delegates. Philip José Farmer turns the image back on people in his story Riverworld, where a council hall "stank like a congress of baboons."
- 7A gathering or meeting of two or more people.
Note
The most literal sense, close to the Latin congredior, "to come together," built from con- and gradior, "to step." Any two people meeting count: a crowd once stood gazing to watch a visitor's congress with Democritus. The use is archaic now. Meeting does this work in ordinary prose, so congress in this sense reads as a deliberate period touch.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Latin congredior means to come together or meet. en.wiktionary.org
- Congredior is formed from con- and gradior. en.wiktionary.org
- Gradior means to step. en.wiktionary.org
- The meeting sense can refer to just two people. en.wiktionary.org
- A literary passage describes a crowd watching a visitor's congress with Democritus. gutenberg.org
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Practice
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Origin
From Latin congressum, the past participle of congredior ('I go or come together'), which is formed from con- ('together') plus gradior ('I go, step'). The verb comes from the noun.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Congress comes from Latin congressum, a past participle of congredior. en.wiktionary.org
- Congredior means 'I go or come together'. en.wiktionary.org
- Congredior is formed from con- plus gradior. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin con- means 'together'. en.wiktionary.org
- Gradior means 'I go, step'. en.wiktionary.org
- The English verb congress derives from the English noun. en.wiktionary.org