Meeting: The Word That Fills Every Working Calendar
A meeting is an occasion when people come together. Its vocabulary is unusually formal, because minutes of meetings can be evidence.
A meeting is an occasion when people gather to discuss or decide. Formal meetings carry a whole vocabulary of their own — agenda, minutes, quorum, motion, apologies — because their records can settle disputes and satisfy regulators. That is why *minutes* are approved rather than simply filed.
- A gathering to discuss something. *A team meeting.*
- A chance encounter. *A meeting on the stairs.*
- A sporting event. *A race meeting.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | meeting | A short meeting. |
| Plural | meetings | Back-to-back meetings. |
| Verb | meet | We meet on Fridays. |
| Past | met | They met last week. |
| Related | minutes | Take the minutes. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The meeting overran by an hour.Common enough to have its own verb.
- Apologies were received from two members.Formal language for absences.
- The motion was carried by six votes to two.Carried means passed.
Meeting vocabulary
- Agenda — the list of items to be discussed
- Minutes — the written record of what was decided
- Quorum — the minimum attendance for valid decisions
- Motion — a proposal put to a vote
- Any other business — the item at the end that lengthens every meeting
From *meet*, Old English *metan*, to encounter. *Minutes* comes from Latin *minuta scriptura*, small writing — notes taken in a small hand, not a record of the passing time.
Why are meeting records called minutes?
From Latin for small writing: rough notes made quickly, later written up. It has nothing to do with sixty seconds.
What is a quorum?
The minimum number who must be present for decisions to be valid. Without it a meeting can discuss but not decide.