A Seminar Is a Seed Plot
A seminar is a small teaching session for discussion. The Latin word means a nursery bed where seeds are raised.
A seminar is a small class in which a topic is discussed rather than lectured. The Latin *seminarium* is a seed bed, from *semen*, seed — the same image that gives *seminary*, where clergy were raised, and *disseminate*, to scatter seed. A seminar grows ideas rather than delivering them.
- A small discussion class. *A postgraduate seminar.*
- A short training event. *A one-day seminar.*
- Seminar as a modifier. *A seminar room.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | seminar | A weekly seminar. |
| Plural | seminars | Research seminars. |
| Related | seminary | A theological seminary. |
| Related | disseminate | Disseminate findings. |
| Related | tutorial | A one-to-one tutorial. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The seminar meets on Thursdays.Academic.
- He gave a seminar on the findings.A presentation with discussion.
- The research was disseminated widely.Scattered like seed.
Teaching formats
- Lecture — one speaker to many listeners
- Seminar — small group discussion around a topic
- Tutorial — one or two students with a tutor
- Workshop — participants do practical work
- Symposium — a meeting of papers on one theme; originally a drinking party
From German *Seminar*, from Latin *seminarium*, a seed plot, from *semen*, seed. The academic sense reached English through nineteenth-century German universities.
Seminar or workshop?
A seminar is discussion-based; a workshop involves doing something practical. The words overlap in commercial training.
Why does *symposium* mean a conference?
In Greek it meant a drinking party, where conversation followed the meal. The talking survived and the drinking was quietly dropped.