Conclave in a Sentence: Meaning & Examples

Conclave means a private or secret meeting, especially the gathering of cardinals who elect a new pope. To use conclave in a sentence, treat it as a countable noun and name whose meeting it is: “The board held a conclave behind closed doors.” The word suits formal reporting, and it often carries a hint of secrecy.

Conclave at a glance

• Conclave is a countable noun, and its plural is conclaves.
• The specific sense is the private assembly of cardinals that elects a pope.
• The general sense is any confidential meeting of a small group.
• It suits formal and journalistic writing and usually hints at closed doors.
• The usual verbs are hold, convene and break up a conclave.
• The commonest error is confusing conclave with council or convention.

What does conclave mean?

Conclave is a noun meaning a private or secret meeting, and in its best-known sense the assembly of cardinals who elect a pope. The Cambridge entry for conclave records both the specific and the general senses, and the difference is only the size of the group and the words around it. A reader who needs the plain word for people coming together would choose gathering, because conclave adds the idea of closed doors.

One limitation deserves stating plainly. Conclave is a strong word and easy to overuse; applied to an ordinary team meeting it sounds theatrical, and in careful writing about the church it is a technical term with one fixed reference. The word also implies exclusion, because a conclave keeps outsiders away, so it is the wrong choice for an open public forum. In a headline, conclave does the work of a whole clause by hinting that reporters were kept outside.

How do you use conclave in a sentence?

Conclave is a countable noun, so it always takes a determiner and can be made plural. Five patterns cover most real sentences, and the fixed phrase in conclave is the one that appears most in reporting.

For a neutral word with none of the secrecy, assembly is the safer noun, and it works in almost every sentence where conclave would sound dramatic. The noun also takes a possessive when the meeting belongs to a named body, and adjectives such as secret, private or emergency slot in before it.

Conclave in a sentence: examples across contexts

Conclave keeps one grammar while its meaning moves from a papal election to a boardroom. The ten sentences below show the technical and the general senses at work.

Every conclave ends, and the word for the scattering that follows is dispersion, the opposite of a gathering. At the other extreme, a person who avoids company altogether keeps to solitude. Because the word always implies a boundary, writers often add a place phrase such as behind closed doors, upstairs or in the back room to make the exclusion visible. The same boundary explains why the word pairs so naturally with in private.

Conclave vs council

Conclave and council both name a group of people who meet, so the two are frequently swapped. A convention is larger and more public still, which is why it rarely fits the secretive sense.

Verdict: choose conclave for a closed meeting that will end and disperse, and council for the permanent group that keeps meeting. When the gathering is large and open, convention is the more honest noun. One small test separates them: a conclave can be counted and dated, while a council is described by how long it has existed.

Word forms and grammar of conclave

Conclave is a regular noun, and it also works as a modifier before another noun. The table lists the forms a writer is most likely to need.

The word has no common verb form, so writers say that a conclave meets, sits or ends; do not turn it into a verb. An attributive conclave, as in a conclave vote, is common in headlines because it saves a preposition, and the plural is regular.

Common mistakes with conclave

The five errors below come from one habit: reaching for conclave when a plainer noun already does the job.

• Incorrect: The conclave is a permanent committee. Correct: The council is a permanent committee. Rule: A conclave is a single private meeting; a council is a continuing body.
• Incorrect: They conclaved in the back room. Correct: They met in conclave in the back room. Rule: Conclave is a noun, not a verb.
• Incorrect: A conclave of thousands filled the stadium. Correct: A convention of thousands filled the stadium. Rule: A conclave is small and closed.
• Incorrect: The cardinals will conclude next week to choose a pope. Correct: The cardinals will meet in conclave next week to choose a pope. Rule: Conclude means to finish; the meeting is a conclave.
• Incorrect: The conclave was open for anyone to attend. Correct: The meeting was open for anyone to attend. Rule: Conclave implies closed doors, so open attendance contradicts it.

Do not reach for conceive either, since it means to form an idea rather than to gather.

Practice using conclave

Work through the six items, then check the reasoning rather than only the answer.

1. Fill the gap: The cardinals entered the ______ to elect the new pope.
2. Choose the better noun: The permanent advisory body is a (conclave / council).
3. Correct the error: The leaders conclaved quietly for an hour.
4. Build a sentence: use in conclave about a school committee.
5. Spot the register: which fits a news report — the conclave met behind closed doors, or the top-secret club thingy met?
6. Rewrite with a neutral noun: The conclave of editors chose the story. Use gathering.

Answers

1. conclave — the fixed papal sense needs the noun after the article.
2. council — a permanent body is a council, while a conclave is one closed meeting.
3. The leaders met in conclave quietly for an hour — conclave is a noun, not a verb.
4. Model answer: The committee met in conclave to agree the trip before telling the class — the fixed phrase signals privacy.
5. The conclave met behind closed doors — a report avoids vague slang and keeps the noun precise.
6. The gathering of editors chose the story — gathering drops the secrecy but keeps the meeting.

The bottom line

Use conclave in a sentence for a small, private meeting, and reserve the technical sense for the cardinals who elect a pope. Two facts decide most uses: the word is a countable noun, so it needs an article or a plural, and it always implies closed doors rather than open debate. When the group is permanent, council is the right noun; when it is large and public, convention is. In reporting, naming the body and the place is often enough to convey the secrecy the noun implies.

Frequently asked questions about conclave

What is a conclave in the Catholic Church?

In the Catholic Church, a conclave is the closed assembly of cardinals who meet to elect a pope. The cardinals gather away from the public, and the meeting ends once a new pope is chosen. The word carries that specific meaning in religious reporting and history.

Can conclave mean any private meeting?

Yes. Outside religious writing, conclave describes any confidential meeting of a small group, such as a board or a group of advisers. The meaning stays close to the original, so the meeting still feels closed and private rather than open to everyone.

Is conclave a verb?

No. Conclave is a noun, so it cannot be turned into a verb. A sentence such as they conclaved is wrong. Write what the group did instead, as in they met in conclave or they held a conclave behind closed doors.

How is conclave different from a conference?

A conference is typically large, scheduled and open to registered attendees, while a conclave is small, private and closed. The two share only the idea of people meeting. If the event is public and sizeable, conference or convention is the honest noun to use.