Congress refers to a coming together of two or more people; a meeting. It commonly describes a formal gathering or assembly; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question, an association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups, and coitus; sexual intercourse, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to to assemble together and to meet in a congress, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Congress as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Congress therefore works well as a quotation category because it can hold direct statements about the subject, figurative uses that borrow its meaning, and broader reflections that stay anchored to the same central idea. Congress is not limited to a single rigid definition in ordinary language, and that wider range is part of what makes the category useful for grouping related material without losing the term's main sense.
