Standard Lemma guide

seminar

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈsɛmɪnɑɹ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɛmɪnɑː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S EH1 M AH0 N AA2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A class held for advanced studies in which students meet regularly to discuss original research, under the guidance of a professor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Students attended a seminar on climate change.
  • She gave a guest lecture during the philosophy seminar.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A meeting held for the exchange of useful information by members of a common business community.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The company hosted a training seminar for new employees.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To participate in or lead a seminar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a course offered for a small group of advanced students

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: course, course of study, course of instruction, class

5

noun

Meaning 5

any meeting for an exchange of ideas

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: conference

History

Etymology

From German Seminar, from Latin sēminārium, from sēmen (“seed”). Compare seminary.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: نَدْوَة (nadwa) — class held for advanced studies
  • Chinese Mandarin: 講座 /讲座 (jiǎngzuò) — class held for advanced studies
  • Czech: seminář — class held for advanced studies
  • Finnish: seminaari — class held for advanced studies
  • French: séminaire — class held for advanced studies
  • German: Seminar — class held for advanced studies
  • Greek: σεμινάριο (seminário) — class held for advanced studies
  • Hungarian: szeminárium — class held for advanced studies
  • Hungarian: gyakorlat — class held for advanced studies
  • Italian: seminario — class held for advanced studies
  • Japanese: ゼミナール (zemināru) — class held for advanced studies
  • Japanese: ゼミ (zemi) — class held for advanced studies
  • Japanese: セミナー (seminā) — class held for advanced studies
  • Kazakh: семинар (seminar) — class held for advanced studies
  • Korean: 세미나 (semina) — class held for advanced studies
  • Māori: wānanga — class held for advanced studies
  • Norwegian Bokmål: seminar — class held for advanced studies
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: seminar — class held for advanced studies
  • Polish: konwersatorium — class held for advanced studies
  • Polish: seminarium — class held for advanced studies
  • Portuguese: seminário — class held for advanced studies
  • Russian: семина́р (seminár) — class held for advanced studies
  • Slovak: seminár — class held for advanced studies
  • Swahili: warsha — class held for advanced studies
  • Swahili: semina — class held for advanced studies
  • Swedish: seminarium — class held for advanced studies
  • Tagalog: binhisipan — class held for advanced studies
  • Thai: สัมมนา (sǎm-má-naa) — class held for advanced studies
  • Ukrainian: семінар (seminar) — class held for advanced studies
  • Yiddish: סעמינאַר (seminar) — class held for advanced studies
  • Chinese Mandarin: 研討會 /研讨会 (yántǎohuì) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Finnish: seminaari — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • German: Kolloquium — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Greek: διάσκεψη (diáskepsi) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Hungarian: szeminárium — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Kazakh: семинар (seminar) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Latin: sēminārium — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Norwegian Bokmål: seminar — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: seminar — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Portuguese: seminário — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Russian: семина́р (seminár) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Spanish: seminario — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Swahili: warsha — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Swahili: semina — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Swedish: seminarium — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Tagalog: binhisipan — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Thai: สัมมนา (sǎm-má-naa) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
  • Ukrainian: семінар (seminar) — meeting held for the exchange of useful information
Real reading context

seminar in complete knowledge articles