convene
- 01 C1 Advanced
to arrange for a group of people to meet for a formal purpose.
to summon or call together a group of people for a formal assembly or meeting. Transitive — takes a direct object.
Simple“The committee chair decided to convene a special meeting to discuss the budget.”
In context“The Secretary-General has the authority to convene an emergency session of the council should the geopolitical situation deteriorate further.”
UsageCommonly used with collective nouns like committee, council, or board as the object.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to gather or come together for a formal meeting.
to assemble or come together in a body for a public or official purpose. Intransitive — does not take a direct object.
Simple“The students will convene in the main hall at ten o'clock for the presentation.”
In context“The delegates are scheduled to convene at the international summit to ratify the new environmental protocols.”
UsageOften followed by a prepositional phrase of place, such as 'in', 'at', or 'on'.
- 03 C2 Proficiency
to officially order someone to appear in a court of law.
to summon a person judicially to appear before a court or tribunal.
Simple“The witness was convened to give evidence during the trial.”
In context“The tribunal convened the defendants to answer for their alleged violations of maritime law.”
UsagePrimarily used in legal or highly bureaucratic contexts.
“The Organization of American States (OAS), a regional human rights body, has voted to convene an urgent meeting of foreign ministers over Nicaragua, declaring that representative democracy “no longer exists” in the country.”
“In 1971, Nasa convened a panel of experts to study the best ways to search for extraterrestrial life.”
Borrowed from Middle French convenir, from Latin convenio, convenire (“come together”), from con- (“with, together”) + veniō (“come”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷm̥yéti, from the root gʷem-.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.