different between congress vs bloc

English

Etymology

From Latin congressum, the past participle of congredior (“I go, come together”), itself from con- + gradior (“I go, step”). The verb is from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (noun:)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?????s/, /-??s/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??????s/
• (verb:)
  • IPA^(key): /k?n????s/, /k??????s/

Noun

congress (countable and uncountable, plural congresses)

1. (archaic) A coming together of two or more people; a meeting.
   • , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.48:

     After some little repast, he went to see Democritus […]. The multitude stood gazing round about to see the congress.

2. A formal gathering or assembly; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question.
3. (often capitalized: Congress) A legislative body of a state, originally the bicameral legislature of the United States of America.
4. An association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups.

   The National Congress of American Indians

5. (dated) Coitus; sexual intercourse.

Synonyms

• (legislative body) assembly, legislature, parliament
• (association) federation

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

congress (third-person singular simple present congresses, present participle congressing, simple past and past participle congressed)

1. (intransitive) To assemble together.
2. To meet in a congress.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc (“group, block”), ultimately of Old Dutch origin, from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukk? (“beam, log”). Doublet of block.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /bl?k/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /bl?k/
• Homophone: block

Noun

bloc (plural blocs)

1. A group of voters or politicians who share common goals.
   • 2020: "Two Special Elections On Tuesday Could Hint At Another Blue Wave In 2020" by Geoffrey Skelley and Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight

     But a huge bloc of non-Hispanic white residents without bachelor’s degrees — 72 percent of the population age 25 or older — has turned the 7th District into Republican turf.

2. A group of countries acting together for political or economic goals, an alliance: e.g., the eastern bloc, the western bloc, a trading bloc, the Eurozone, the European Union.

Derived terms

• black bloc
• Eastern Bloc
• Soviet Bloc
• trade bloc

Translations

Anagrams

• CLOB, LCBO

Catalan

Etymology

From French bloc

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?bl?k/

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. block
2. bloc

Further reading

• “bloc” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “bloc” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “bloc” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bloc” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Middle French bloc (“a considerable piece of something heavy, block”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukk? (“beam, log”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bl?k/

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. a block (e.g., of wood)
2. a bloc, an alliance
3. a pad of paper
4. (computing) block (of memory, of code)

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

• “bloc” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English block or from a Romance language.

Noun

bloc m (genitive singular bloic, nominative plural bloic)

1. block

Declension

Derived terms

Mutation

References

• "bloc" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “bloc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc. Doublet of block and bloque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?blok/, [?blok]

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. pad (such as of paper)