More of a meeting

[nyenok]

What does "more of" mean in these sentenses? It's not at all clear what it means. Does it mean "more important?" Where the adjective is dropped. So it's "it's a more important meeting than a party", "it was a really more important comment than question."

It's more of a meeting than a party.
It was really more of a comment than a question.

This is from Practical English Usage by Michael Swan.

 

[grassy]

It means that a meeting and a comment, respectively, are more accurate descriptions of the things in question.

 

[nyenok]

So it means it's a more accurate meeting than a party, right?

The missing adjective is "accurate" if the construction is "more of a noun."

 

[grassy]

So it means it's a more accurate meeting than a party, right?

No, what it means is that it would be more accurate to call it a meeting rather than a party.

 

[nyenok]

Could I say "it's more of going the beach than the mountain?"

 

[grassy]

Could I say "it's more of going the beach than the mountain?"

What are you trying to express by this sentence?

 

[Myridon]

Another way to express it might be: It's more like a meeting that it is like a party.
Imagine that you were invited to a party. You went expecting music and dancing. When you got there, people were just sitting around a table talking. It is a party, but it's more like what you think a meeting should be.

It's hard to see how that would work with a mountain being like a beach.