CONCLAVE

conclave

(noun) a confidential or secret meeting

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

conclave (plural conclaves)

The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in choosing a pope.

The group of Roman Catholic cardinals locked in a conclave until they elect a new pope; the body of cardinals.

A private meeting; a close or secret assembly.

Source: Wiktionary


Con"clave ( or ; 277), n. Etym: [F., fr. L. conclave a room that may locked up; con- + clavis key. See Clavicle.]

1. The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in choosing a pope.

2. The body of cardinals shut up in the conclave for the election of a pope; hence, the body of cardinals. It was said a cardinal, by reason of his apparent likelihood to step into St. Peter's chair, that in two conclaves he went in pope and came out again cardinal. South.

3. A private meeting; a close or secret assembly. The verdicts pronounced by this conclave (Johnson's Club) on new books, were speedily known over all London. Macaulay. To be in conclave, to be engaged in a secret meeting; -- said of several, or a considerable number of, persons.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 June 2025

SQUARE

(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; “a square peg in a round hole”; “a square corner”


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