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This must be an easy one, but I can only think of specialized alternatives at the moment: what do you call someone you are about to have a meeting with? Meetee?

In more specific contexts client, friend, date would all work, but they convey more than the fact that you will just be meeting. I've heard appointment used in that sense (as in "your next appointment is waiting outside", but the ambiguity (appointment being a lose synonym for meeting) is not really satisfactory.

Ideas?

Clément
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  • On second thought, perhaps "other party" would do? Sounds a bit formal though. – Clément Mar 11 '14 at 22:37
  • Clément, so does “meet with”. Meet without with, would be sufficient. – Tristan r Mar 11 '14 at 22:46
  • Clément, saying or writing how do you call is incorrect. You should see the discussion at this link http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/150325/how-do-we-call-something-in-english – Tristan r Mar 11 '14 at 22:49
  • In practice I'm not sure I can see why you'd ever want a word that simultaneously covers a client, friend, date that you're scheduled to meet with. It's really just a quirk of language that we happen to be able to use the word meeting in all those contexts, but there's no reason to broaden that "vagueness" to include the person as well as the fact of a prearranged interaction. – FumbleFingers Mar 11 '14 at 22:57
  • @FumbleFingers: It's a programming context. A Meeting class with a field that describes the person that the user is meeting. I'm looking for a name for that field. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 00:23
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    Please note that naming is off-topic on ELU, precisely because names have various constraints and special rules that do not apply to ordinary English. – Bradd Szonye Mar 12 '14 at 00:52
  • Also note that this is one of the reasons that single-word-requests require details of the context that you need for the word – the lack of proper context is exactly what's making it hard to find a good answer. If you can provide a context other than “naming” that would still suit your purpose, it will help you get a better answer. If you can't, then this is probably off topic for two reasons (it's naming, and it's a word request without context). – Bradd Szonye Mar 12 '14 at 00:55
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    Noting what @Bradd says, I think this is Off Topic. But I'd still like to know if OP's date is just another variation on the "personified" usage for appointment. (Maybe I'm just a romantic, but I originally assumed it was more the "candlelit dinner, possible prelude to sex" kind of date! :) – FumbleFingers Mar 12 '14 at 02:20
  • And in the end people can suggest perfectly valid expressions and they will all be discarded because the OP is, in reality, looking for a programming/single-word/fill-in-the-field term. See here: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/156865/a-word-for-someone-you-meet-with#comment326856_156874 – Mari-Lou A Mar 12 '14 at 06:34
  • The naming was really more of a pretext than the real reason and that's why I didn't mention it in the question. I've upvoted the answer with "attendee" because it sounds like a nice fit for my question; other suggestions that I have "rejected" I did mostly because they didn't fit in the "general meeting" question. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 14:50
  • In other words: I'm not going to reject a suggestion because I can't use it to name a variable at all; it's the fact that I was trying to name a variable that made me realize I didn't know a proper word. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 14:51

5 Answers5

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For larger meetings, I have seen invitees and attendees used.

Bob
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  • Attendee sounds nice indeed, although it does suggest a large meeting. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 00:26
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    I think invitee and attendees are a matter of what point in time you are describing them. They can be an invitee before being an attendee. And, they can be both once they've attended. – David M Mar 12 '14 at 00:53
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    I think this is the terminology that apps like Google Calendar use when they need a word for it. – Bradd Szonye Mar 12 '14 at 05:33
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I think Conferee might work.

Also, you could use participant, visitor, or caller, though participant implies they are already in the meeting, rather than someone you will be meeting with, and the other two imply the meeting will happen at your location.

Eli
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    Isn't conferee specific to conferences? Pretty word though – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 00:41
  • @Clément - I'm not sure. I think it's someone you are conferring with, but I don't know if that always implies a conference, or if a conference is just a place where people formally confer. I love language - it's such a fun mess =o) – Eli Mar 12 '14 at 16:46
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The usual evasion is to just call them "my 3pm Meeting" and avoid giving out too much information.

Oldcat
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If someone is coming to see you there will quite obviously be a 'meeting'. But why not refer to them as your 'visitor'. Or more simply still 'I'm afraid I shall not be available because I have someone coming to see me at 3.00pm' - or 'I am meeting with someone at 3.00pm'.

WS2
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  • I should probably have given a bit more context. I do need a word, not an alternate phrasing. It's in a programming context; I have a "Meeting" class with a field that describes the person that the user is meeting. I'm looking for a name for that field. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 00:24
  • Regarding "visitor", doesn't that suggest that they are coming? If I have a meeting with my lawyer at 2PM, I can't really call them my "visitor", right? – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 14:53
  • 'I have an appointment in town'. – WS2 Mar 12 '14 at 20:34
  • Sure; I was curious whether there was a single word for this though. The other answers are fine. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 23:32
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I think guest fits the bill on all of these and has little connotation.

RyeɃreḁd
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    Doesn't that suggest that the guest is coming to your office/place? If you meet them in a neutral place (say a cafe), are they your guest? "guess" seems to suggest that you are inviting them, is that incorrect? – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 00:25
  • @Clément if you invite business associates for dinner, regardless of the venue, they are still your guests. – Mari-Lou A Mar 12 '14 at 06:29
  • @Mari-LouA: You might also just meet them for dinner, and everyone pays for themselves. You don't need to be paying for them, and that's what guest seems to suggest to me. – Clément Mar 12 '14 at 14:48