symposium
noun
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When you hear the word symposium, you may—quite understandably—envision conferences full of intellectuals giving heady presentations on various arcana. But it was drinking, more than thinking, that drew people to the original symposia and gave us the word. Symposium (symposia or symposiums in plural form) comes from the Greek noun symposion, the word ancient Greeks used for a drinking party that follows a banquet. Symposion in turn comes from sympinein, a verb that combines pinein, meaning “to drink,” with the prefix syn-, meaning “together.” Originally, English speakers only used symposium to refer to such an ancient Greek party, but in the 18th century British gentlemen’s clubs started using the word for confabs in which conversation was fueled by drinking. By the end of the 18th century, symposium had gained the more sober sense we know today, referring to meetings in which the focus is more on imbibing ideas and less on imbibing, say, mead.
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Examples of symposium in a Sentence
John Wenzel, The Denver Post, 30 May 2024
Events include walking tours, trolley tours, a tree history symposium, a tree painting party, a Father’s Day bike tour and a tree planting ceremony at the historic Opa-locka Seaboard Air Line Railroad Station.
—Christina Mayo, Miami Herald, 28 May 2024
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“Symposium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symposium. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
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symposium
noun
from earlier symposium "a social gathering at which there is a free exchange of ideas," from Latin symposium "a party with much drinking and conversation," derived from Greek sympinein "to drink together," from syn- "together with" and pinein "to drink" — related to synonymous
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