conferencing

IPA/ˈkɒnfərənsɪŋ/
KK[kˈɑnfrənsɪŋ]IPA/ˈkɑːnfərənsɪŋ/

conferencing — noun

1. running or joining a meeting where the people involved sit in different location

1.nounB2
Definition

running or joining a meeting where the people involved sit in different locations and connect by phone, by computer, or through a video link rather than meeting face to face.

Example

Mayumi set up the video conferencing system before the team in Berlin joined the call.

compound: video conferencing

Since the pandemic, our company has relied on conferencing for almost every weekly review.

Common collocations
  • video conferencing
  • audio conferencing
  • web conferencing
  • conferencing software
  • conferencing platform
  • conferencing facilities
Synonyms
Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

video conferencing

audio conferencing

web conferencing

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable and most common as a modifier in fixed compounds (video / audio / web / tele- conferencing). Standalone use without one of those modifiers is far rarer and usually refers to the general practice.

Common Mistakes

I attended three conferencings yesterday.
I attended three video calls yesterday.
'conferencing' is uncountable; for individual meetings use 'call', 'meeting', or 'session'.
They are conferencing right now.
They are in a video conference right now.
'conferencing' is rarely used as a present participle verb in everyday speech; prefer 'in a (video) conference' or 'on a call'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These four terms describe people meeting from different places, but each has a different focus. 'Conferencing' is the general activity word and is usually uncountable, working as a modifier in compounds like 'video conferencing' or 'web conferencing'. 'Teleconferencing' is the older parent term, originally tied to phone lines, and now sounds slightly dated except in formal or technical writing. 'Videoconferencing' specifically requires a visual feed and is the term most companies use today when cameras are on. 'Remote meeting' shifts the focus from the technology to the event itself — you can talk about 'a remote meeting' as a single countable thing, which you cannot really do with 'conferencing'. Pick 'conferencing' for the practice, 'videoconferencing' for the visual format, and 'remote meeting' when naming an individual event.

conferencing ↗teleconferencing ↗videoconferencingremote meeting

Common collocations

Nouns

  • conferencing software
  • conferencing platform
  • conferencing facilities
  • conferencing system
  • conferencing tools

Phrases

  • video conferencing
  • audio conferencing
  • web conferencing
  • tele- conferencing

Prepositions

  • via conferencing
  • through conferencing

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Formed in English from the verb 'conference' (itself from the noun 'conference', late Latin 'conferentia' meaning 'a bringing together') plus the '-ing' suffix that turns a verb into an activity noun. The modern technology-focused meaning rose in the late 20th century alongside telephone and then video bridging systems, and it is now usually heard in compound forms.