gathering vs meeting

gathering and meeting both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
gathering	Yes	No	No	No
meeting	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, meeting is a hyponym of gathering; that is, meeting is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than gathering:

gathering (noun)	meeting (noun)
the social act of assembling	the social act of assembling for some common purpose
the act of gathering something	the act of joining together as one
sewing consisting of small folds or puckers made by pulling tight a thread in a line of stitching	a casual or unexpected convergence
a group of persons together in one place	a formally arranged gathering
	a small informal social gathering
	a place where things merge or flow together (especially rivers)