symposium
a meeting or conference
TRANSLATION
symposium = die Fachkonferenz, die Tagung --- GOOGLE INDEX symposium: approximately 105,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Christine Lagarde was speaking at an economic SYMPOSIUM in Tokyo as part of a week-long tour of Asia.
(BBC News)
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Economics and National Strategy Minister Motohisa Furukawa, who chairs a ministerial panel discussing Japan's post-Fukushima energy mix, gives a keynote speech at an energy SYMPOSIUM.
(Reuters news service)
(BBC News)
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Economics and National Strategy Minister Motohisa Furukawa, who chairs a ministerial panel discussing Japan's post-Fukushima energy mix, gives a keynote speech at an energy SYMPOSIUM.
(Reuters news service)
Did you
know?
symposium
noun
- a conference or meeting to discuss a particular subject
(Oxford English Dictionary)
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Most of us know symposiums as serious events where people gather to discuss mutual topics of interest. Socialising often takes place, but usually during breaks or in the evening.
The original symposium, an invention of the ancient Greeks, was more or less an excuse to party however. The word itself derives from symposion, a Greek term that literally means "drinking together." Symposia were an important Hellenic social institution. They offered men from "good families" a forum for debating, plotting, boasting or simply celebrating with others.
Symposia were also held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society and by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests.
The participants, or "symposiasts," would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven. Legend has it that if any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up.
The most famous symposium of all, described in Plato's dialogue of that name, was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theatre contest of the 416 BC Dionysia. According to Plato's account, the celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the popular young Alcibiades, dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium.
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SYNONYMS
conference, colloquium, convention, discussion, forum, gabfest, huddle, meeting, panel discussion, parley, powwow, rap session, round table, seminar, talk
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"I will be out of the office next week attending a symposium in London."
noun
- a conference or meeting to discuss a particular subject
(Oxford English Dictionary)
---
Most of us know symposiums as serious events where people gather to discuss mutual topics of interest. Socialising often takes place, but usually during breaks or in the evening.
The original symposium, an invention of the ancient Greeks, was more or less an excuse to party however. The word itself derives from symposion, a Greek term that literally means "drinking together." Symposia were an important Hellenic social institution. They offered men from "good families" a forum for debating, plotting, boasting or simply celebrating with others.
Symposia were also held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society and by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests.
The participants, or "symposiasts," would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven. Legend has it that if any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up.
The most famous symposium of all, described in Plato's dialogue of that name, was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theatre contest of the 416 BC Dionysia. According to Plato's account, the celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the popular young Alcibiades, dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium.
---
SYNONYMS
conference, colloquium, convention, discussion, forum, gabfest, huddle, meeting, panel discussion, parley, powwow, rap session, round table, seminar, talk
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"I will be out of the office next week attending a symposium in London."
