DictionaryAI

meeting

SayMEE-ting/ˈmitɪŋ/UK/ˈmiːtɪŋ/

Pluralmeetings

8 meanings of meeting

Practice

  1. 1
    gatheringnouncountable
    A gathering of people for a particular purpose, such as discussion, planning, or decision-making, or the people at such a gathering.

    The board scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the merger.

    She spends most mornings in meetings with clients.

    UsagePeople have or hold a meeting about something, and are in a meeting with someone.

    Note

    The assembly sense is an old one. Old English mēting already meant "meeting, assembly, association, society," and it was built like the modern word, from meet plus -ing.

  2. 2
    verb
    Present participle and gerund of meet.

    The two leaders are meeting in Geneva next week.

    Meeting strict deadlines requires careful planning.

    Note

    Only the participle comes from a different line than the noun; the gerund shares the noun's -ing. The participle goes back to Old English mētende, and Middle English still had metand and metinde. The noun comes from mēting. Once both forms ended in -ing, they looked identical.

  3. 3
    encounternouncountable
    An occasion on which people encounter one another, whether arranged in advance or entirely by chance.

    A chance meeting at the airport rekindled their friendship.

    Their meetings over the years were brief, unplanned, and always memorable.

    UsageOften a chance meeting, a first meeting, or a meeting with someone.

    Similarencounter

  4. 4
    encounternoununcountable
    The act or process of coming together, whether of people or of things.

    The meeting of warm and cold air masses often produces thunderstorms.

    The restaurant's menu celebrates the meeting of Korean and Mexican cooking.

    UsageUsually the meeting of two things, as in the meeting of warm and cold air.

    Similarconvergence, union

    Oppositeparting, separation

  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A place or point at which two or more things join or intersect, such as the confluence of rivers.

    The fort was built on a bluff above the meeting of the two rivers, where it could watch both valleys.

    The monument marks the meeting of three state borders.

    Similarjunction, confluence, intersection

Less common meanings

  1. 6
    sports eventnounUKcountablebritish
    An organized sporting occasion consisting of a series of races or competitions, particularly in track and field or horse racing.

    She ran the fastest 400 meters of her life at an international athletics meeting last summer.

    The racecourse hosts a three-day meeting every spring, with seven races on each card.

    UsageUsually an athletics meeting or a race meeting. American English says a meet, as in a track meet.

    Similarevent

  2. 7
    church servicenoundatedcountable
    A religious service held by a charismatic preacher, especially in small towns of the rural United States.

    Every summer a traveling preacher held a meeting under a canvas tent at the edge of town.

    You use ta give a good meetin'. I recollect one time you give a whole sermon walkin' around on your hands, yellin' your head off.
    1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

    UsageA preacher gives or holds a meeting. For a church event today, service is the usual word.

    Similarrevival

    Note

    A rural American word for a preacher's service, and now a dated one. In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a character recalls that the preacher "use ta give a good meetin'." The preacher gives a meeting, and the clipped spelling marks the speech as rustic.

  3. 8
    noun
    An administrative unit within the Religious Society of Friends, the Christian denomination commonly known as the Quakers.

meeting is a form of meet

meet, verb: To be introduced to someone and become acquainted for the first time. Full entry

Forms
meetmeets he/she/itmeeting -ing formmet past tense, past participle
Spelling
meet → meeting: add -ing

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of meeting apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 3–7

From Middle English meeting, from Old English mēting, ġemēting ("meeting, assembly, society"), equivalent to meet + -ing. It has cognates such as West Frisian moeting and Dutch ontmoeting, and is related to Danish møde, Swedish möte, and moot.

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

  • Meeting descends through Middle English meeting from Old English mēting and ġemēting. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Old English source had the meanings meeting, assembly and society. en.wiktionary.org
  • The formation is equivalent to meet plus -ing. en.wiktionary.org
  • West Frisian moeting and Dutch ontmoeting are cognates. en.wiktionary.org
  • Danish møde is etymologically related. Its verb is cognate with meet, and its noun derives from that verb; identifying it as a cognate of the complete -ing noun conflates different formations. en.wiktionary.org
  • Swedish möte is a cognate of moot and is related to meeting. This distinction follows from its derivation from Old Norse mót, rather than the formation underlying meeting. en.wiktionary.org
  • Meeting is etymologically related to moot. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 2

In make-up it is meet + -ing: Proto-Germanic *mōtijandz, the present participle of *mōtijaną ("to meet"), became Old English mētende and then Middle English metynge.