A formal meeting or series of meetings for discussion; the national legislative body of the United States; the act of coming together.
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Latin15th centurywell-attested
From Latin 'congressus' (a meeting, a comingtogether, a hostile collision), noun form of 'congredī' (to come together, to meet, to join battle), from 'con-' (together, with) + 'gradī' (to walk, to step, to go forward), from PIE *ghredh- (to walk, to stride). A congress is literally a 'stepping together' — people walking into thesame space to meet. The PIEroot *ghredh- gave Latin 'gradus' (step
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In Latin, 'congressus' could mean a hostile encounter as well as a peaceful meeting — the same 'stepping together' could be a diplomatic gathering or a battlefield clash. The Founders of the UnitedStates chose 'Congress' for the legislature in 1774, emphasizing the peaceful sense: representatives from separate states 'stepping together' to deliberate. The word replaced earlier proposals including 'Grand
on the Latin republican tradition of deliberative assemblies. Before that, 'congress' in English could mean any formal gathering, or even a sexual encounter — a polite euphemism drawn from the 'hostile meeting' sense of Latin 'congressus.' The word's journey from battlefield to boardroom to legislature charts how a single metaphor of motion can expand across centuries. Key roots: con- (Latin: "together"), gradī (Latin: "to walk, to step"), *ghredh- (Proto-Indo-European: "to walk, to go").