Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A formal assembly of representatives, as of various nations, to discuss problems.
  • noun The national legislative body of a nation, especially a republic.
  • noun The national legislative body of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
  • noun The two-year session of this legislature between elections of the House of Representatives.
  • noun The act of coming together or meeting.
  • noun A single meeting, as of a political party or other group.
  • noun Sexual intercourse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A meeting together of individuals: an encounter; an interview.
  • noun The meeting of persons in sexual commerce.
  • noun A formal meeting or association of persons having a representative character; an organization or authorized assemblage of persons for the consideration of some special subject or the promotion of some common interest; particularly, in politics, an assemblage of envoys, commissioners, or plenipotentiaries representing sovereign powers, or of sovereigns themselves, for the purpose of arranging international affairs: as, the Congress of Vienna (1814-15); the Congress of Paris (1856). For the distinction between conference and congress, see extract under conference, 2 .
  • noun [capitalized] The national legislature of the United States.
  • noun The name of the lower house of the Spanish Cortes, and of the national legislatures of the South American republics.
  • To come together; assemble; congregate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A meeting of individuals, whether friendly or hostile; an encounter.
  • noun obsolete A sudden encounter; a collision; a shock; -- said of things.
  • noun The coming together of a male and female in sexual commerce; the act of coition.
  • noun A gathering or assembly; a conference.
  • noun A formal assembly, as of princes, deputies, representatives, envoys, or commissioners; esp., a meeting of the representatives of several governments or societies to consider and determine matters of common interest.
  • noun The collective body of senators and representatives of the people of a nation, esp. of a republic, constituting the chief legislative body of the nation.
  • noun The lower house of the Spanish Cortes, the members of which are elected for three years.
  • noun an assembly of deputies from the thirteen British colonies in America, appointed to deliberate in respect to their common interests. They first met in 1774, and from time thereafter until near the close of the Revolution.
  • noun the assembly of representatives of the original States of the American Union, who met under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 till 1789.
  • noun [U.S.] a high shoe or half-boot, coming above the ankle, and having the sides made in part of some elastic material which stretches to allow the boot to be drawn on and off.
  • noun a saline mineral water from the Congress spring at Saratoga, in the State of New York.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic A coming-together of two or more people; a meeting.
  • noun A formal gathering or assembly; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question.
  • noun A legislative body of a state, originally the bicameral legislature of the United States of America.
  • noun An association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups.
  • noun Sexual intercourse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a national legislative assembly
  • noun the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur
  • noun a meeting of elected or appointed representatives
  • noun the legislature of the United States government

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English congresse, body of attendants, from Latin congressus, meeting, from past participle of congredī, to meet : com-, com- + gradī, to go; see ghredh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin congressum, the past participle of congredi 'to go or come together', itself from con- + gradi 'to go or step'.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word congress.

Examples

  • The bottom line is, this american election is going to be won on who is more cool headed and experienced and takes action and is partisan and wants to fix the “DO NOTHING CONGRESS” vs hot headed, inexperienced, do nothing and bi-partisan and dosnt want to fix congress.

    Too perfect to be dismissed & The Sarah Palin Show 2008

  • The Soviet position followed the new position of the CPSU at its 20th Congress 1956 where Nikita Khruschev unveiled misdeeds of Stalin in his secret speech on the last day of the congress.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Abhay N 2006

  • The Soviet position followed the new position of the CPSU at its 20th Congress 1956 where Nikita Khruschev unveiled misdeeds of Stalin in his secret speech on the last day of the congress.

    Stalin's realpolitik and departure Abhay N 2006

  • I did not notice anyone reluctant to talk to him when I was in Havana in January (during the Cultural Congress), and it is significant that he was one of the few Cuban intellectuals who were official representatives to that congress.

    Literary Life in Cuba Randall, Margaret 1968

  • President Buchanan will be sooner converted than Napoleon; although I do not know, how the Heavenly Congress see this matter, because I am not in their congress but only a medium of messengers sent from that congress.

    Secret Enemies of True Republicanism Andrew B. Smolnikar

  • At the opening of the Thirty-Fourth Congress the anti-Nebraska men gradually united in supporting Banks for speaker, and after one of the bitterest and most protracted speakership contests in the history of congress, lasting from the 3rd of December 1855 to the 2nd of February 1856, he was chosen on the

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various

  • Here's how the dilemma is summarized in a remarkable "Open Letter To Congress" that was, by one "Numerian," who appears to speak from deep experience working in finance and with derivates and gives permission to anyone to republish it or send it to congress, a letter that has also been reproduced by Cernig at Newshoggers, and which I think should be published at every blog in the liberal blogisphere:

    Corrente 2008

  • Congress: Keeping control of congress and getting to 60 in the Senate is likely to be the focus of a lot of bloggers in the next †“but with organizing, party building, and fundraising via the internet President Obama.

    The White House Email List Etepleblite 2008

  • So I think everyone in congress is responsible for this failure.

    Obama: 'If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out' 2009

  • I'm more worried about the tactics the majority in congress is using, such as telling the minority they must vote on this issue right away, even if they haven't had time enough to read the bill's contents, than

    Palin urges restraint at town hall meetings 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A group of baboons, appropriately enough.

    November 16, 2007

  • "Susie arrived to great squeals and kisses. She announced that she had spent the last three hours in bestial congress with a junior cabinet minister. Gobs hung open, because everyone had thought he was gay, and several of them also knew that he was her half-brother."

    - Chris Morris, Blue Jam, Series II, Episode II

    November 16, 2007

  • Yikes, that's too many taboos to count.

    November 16, 2007

  • The definition "to come together; assemble; congregate" (see above) should be under the heading of Verb.

    June 26, 2011

  • As the old joke goes, if pro is the opposite of con, then the opposite of progress is . . .

    July 29, 2011