Other forms: convened, convening, convenes
To convene is to call people together for a meeting. Convene a meeting, the committee convened, convene an inquiry.
It is formal and implies authority — somebody with the power to summon does the convening. It also works without an object: the panel convened at nine. Note convention, convener and convenor, both spellings used in Britain; and that the Latin means to come together, which is also where convenient comes from, since what suits is what comes together.
1verbconveneTo call people together for a meeting.
“The head teacher convened a meeting of all the staff to discuss the new rules.”
convene is a calling together.
Latin convenire is con plus venire, to come. Convention, convenient and covenant come from the same coming together.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷem-
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷm̥yéti
Latin
convenio — come together
Middle French
convenir
English, today
convene
Borrowed from Middle French convenir, from Latin convenio (“come together”), from con- + veniō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷm̥yéti, from the root gʷem-.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA