(n.) A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly.
(n.) An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution, by Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters in Scotland; -- often used opprobriously, as if those assembled were heretics or schismatics.
Example Sentences:
(1) The trouble seems to be in the overstatement of the hero's sense of grievance; like one of Strindberg's woman-haters, he ends in a kind of frenzied preaching in an empty conventicle.
(2) J immy Porter is a young man who is anxious to give a great deal and is hurt because no one seems interested enough to take it – including his wife.” John Osborne on Look Back in Anger “The trouble seems to be in the overstatement of the hero’s sense of grievance; like one of Strindberg’s woman-haters, he ends in a kind of frenzied preaching in an empty conventicle.
Meetinghouse
Definition:
(n.) A house used as a place of worship; a church; -- in England, applied only to a house so used by Dissenters.
Example Sentences:
(1) Operation Meetinghouse (9–10 March 1945) has been estimated to be the single most destructive bombing raid in history , and the Japanese emperor’s tour of the damage in Tokyo began his personal involvement in the decision to surrender.