From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishconfercon‧fer /kənˈfɜː $ -ˈfɜːr/ ●○○ AWL verb (conferred, conferring) formal 1 [intransitive]DISCUSS to discuss something with other people, so that everyone can express their opinions and decide on somethingconfer with Franklin leant over and conferred with his attorneys.2 → confer a title/degree/honour etc —conferment noun [countable, uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
confer• Some specific functions can only be conferred by an order made by the Lord Chancellor.• With the first mover advantage conferred by this partnership, we expect to take the lion's share of that new business.• It gave Becton the title of chief executive officer and conferred extraordinary powers upon him.• The university has already conferred honorary degrees on several prime ministers.• The President trusted him so much that he conferred on him the role of "Principal Advisor".• He conferred privately with key congressional leaders and together they started the Manhattan Project.• In other words, multimedia must confer real benefits.• The effect of this order was to confer second-class citizenship on the proud Washington.• Bethel indicated that all institutions conducting courses at degree level in all countries except the United Kingdom conferred their own awards.confer with• Franklin leaned over and conferred with his attorneys.From Longman Business Dictionaryconfercon‧fer /kənˈfɜː-ˈfɜːr/ verb (past tense and past participle conferred, present participle conferring) [intransitive] to discuss something with other people in order to make a decision based on more than one person’s opinionThe chairwoman is conferring with the board later today.→ See Verb tableOrigin confer (1400-1500) Latin conferre “to bring together”, from com- ( → COM-) + ferre “to carry” 