Gathering vs. Party — What's the Difference?

An assembly or meeting, especially one held for a specific purpose

A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing or other forms of entertainment.

A group of leaves taken together, one inside another, in binding a book.

A social gathering especially for pleasure or amusement

The action of one that gathers.

A group of people who have gathered to participate in an activity

That which is gathered or amassed; a collection or accumulation.

A group of soldiers selected for a duty or mission

An assembly of persons; a meeting.

An established political group organized to promote and support its principles and candidates for public office.

The collecting of food that grows wild, such as berries, roots, and grains.

A person or group involved in an enterprise; a participant or accessory

A gather in cloth.

(Law) A person or entity that participates in a transaction, makes a contract, or is involved in a lawsuit as a litigant.

A suppurated swelling; a boil or abscess.

A subscriber to a telephone party line.

A meeting or get-together; a party or social function.

A person using a telephone.

A group of people or things.

A person

(bookbinding) A section, a group of bifolios, or sheets of paper, stacked together and folded in half.

Of, relating to, or participating in an established political organization

A charitable contribution; a collection.

Suitable for use at a social gathering

(uncountable) The collection of produce, items, goods, etc.; the practice of collecting food from nature.

Characteristic of a pleasurable social gathering

(medicine) A tumor or boil suppurated or maturated; an abscess.

To celebrate or carouse at a party or similar gathering

Present participle of gather

(legal) A person or group of people constituting a particular side in a contract or legal action.

That gathers together.

A person.

The act of collecting or bringing together.

A person; an individual.

That which is gathered, collected, or brought together

With to: an accessory, someone who takes part.

Assembling; collecting; used for gathering or concentrating.

A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest etc.

A group of persons together in one place

Active player characters organized into a single group.

The social act of assembling;

(video games) A group of characters controlled by the player.

The act of gathering something

(politics) A political group considered as a formal whole, united under one specific political platform of issues and campaigning to take part in government.

Sewing consisting of small folds or puckers made by pulling tight a thread in a line of stitching

(military) A discrete detachment of troops, especially for a particular purpose.

Accumulating and becoming more intense;

A group of persons collected or gathered together for some particular purpose.

A gathering of usually invited guests for entertainment, fun and socializing.

A group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity.

A gathering of acquaintances so that one of them may offer items for sale to the rest of them.

A small group of birds or mammals.

(obsolete) A part or division.

(intransitive) To celebrate at a party, to have fun, to enjoy oneself.

To take recreational drugs.

(intransitive) To engage in flings, to have one-night stands, to sow one's wild oats.

To form a party (with).

Of a fence or wall: shared by two properties and serving to divide them.

Divided; in part.

(heraldry) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries.

A part or portion.

A number of persons united in opinion or action, as distinguished from, or opposed to, the rest of a community or association; esp., one of the parts into which a people is divided on questions of public policy.

A part of a larger body of company; a detachment;

A number of persons invited to a social entertainment; a select company; as, a dinner party; also, the entertainment itself; as, to give a party.

One concerned or interested in an affair; one who takes part with others; a participator; as, he was a party to the plot; a party to the contract.

The plaintiff or the defendant in a lawsuit, whether an individual, a firm, or corporation; a litigant.

Hence, any certain person who is regarded as being opposed or antagonistic to another.

Cause; side; interest.

A person; as, he is a queer party.

Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries; as, an escutcheon party per pale.

Partial; favoring one party; partisan.

Partly.

An organization to gain political power;

An occasion on which people can assemble for social interaction and entertainment;

A band of people associated temporarily in some activity;

A group of people gathered together for pleasure;

A person involved in legal proceedings;

Have or participate in a party;