Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.
- n. A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.
- n. A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A drinking together; a compotation; a merry feast; a convivial meeting. The symposium usually followed a dinner, for the Greeks did not drink at meals. Its enjoyment was heightened by intellectual or agreeable conversation, by the introduction of music or dancers, and by other amusements. The beverage was usually wine diluted with water, seldom pure wine.
- n. Hence, in a loose use, any collection of opinions, as of commentators on a disputed passage; in a recent use, a collection of short articles, as in a magazine, by several writers, on various aspects of a given topic: as, a symposium on the Indian question.
Wiktionary
- n. A conference or other meeting for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants make presentations.
- n. A drinking party, especially one with intellectual discussion.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A drinking together; a merry feast.
- n. A collection of short essays by different authors on a common topic; -- so called from the appellation given to the philosophical dialogue by the Greeks.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a meeting or conference for the public discussion of some topic especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations
Etymologies
- Latin, drinking party, from Greek sumposion : sun-, syn- + posis, drinking; see pō(i)- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“I don't know about you, but when I hear the word symposium I experience a certain frisson.”
“I believe Griff, being a little afraid of her quickness, led her to suppose he was going to hold what he called a symposium in his rooms, and to think it a mystery of college life not intended for young ladies.”
“The symposium is free and open to the public, with no registration required.”
Consumer Reports: Airline industry and regulators examine issues around "code sharing"
“If you like to discuss questions like these, you will be happy that the latest Wall Of Text from Shawn Elliot's reviews symposium is now published.”
“The symposium is co-sponsored by the Huffington Post and Open Center and will take place in New York City on Friday, February 20th.”
Sex in America: Can The Conversation Change? « Bound, Not Gagged
“With a rising global middle class projected by the UN to double meat consumption (. pdf) by 2050, and livestock already responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, the symposium is drawing a variety of scientists, environmentalists and food industry experts.”
“The BOBCATSSS 2009 symposium is organised by students from the University of Tampere, Finland and the University of Porto, Portugal - 28-30 January 2009 - Porto, Portugal”
“I'll be honest, because I've said as much to my fellow participants -- I'm kind of not so sure what the ultimate aim of the symposium is or what end, exactly, it's intended to serve, but it is an interesting discussion among us about the issues that concern the work we do.”
“The symposium is intended for policy makers, practitioners and technologists working in the areas of information and communications technology and e-learning service delivery in UK HE and FE institutions.”
“The goal of the BOBCATSSS 2008 symposium is to explore access to information for everybody from the technical, political, legal, social and economical point of view.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘symposium’.
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Not in the Periodic Table
Words that sound like they might be the names of elements of the periodic table, but that aren't. Many of the words listed here were actually proposed as names for substances their creators thought...
tentorium, columbarium, nasturtium, deuterium, caladium, valerian, concordium, synangium, chorium, geranium, hymenium, pyrenium and 212 more...
muse25 The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC. It is a discussion on the nature of love, taking the form of a group of speeches, both satirical and serious, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking gathering at the house of the tragedian Agathon at Athens. Oct 23, 2008