conversation

From Middle English conversacioun, from French conversation, from Latin conversātiōnem, accusative singular of conversātiō (“conversation”), from conversor (“abide, keep company with”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.vəˈseɪ.ʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːn.vɚˈseɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

conversation (countable and uncountable, plural conversations)

1. (obsolete) Interaction; commerce or intercourse with other people; dealing with others. [14th-18th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts XI:

     Yt chaunsed thatt a whole yere they had their conversacion with the congregacion there, and taught moche people insomoche thatt the disciples off Antioche we the fyrst that wer called Christen.

2. (archaic) Behaviour, the way one conducts oneself; a person's way of life. [from 14th c.]
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):

     , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.50:

     There are many that take no heed what happeneth to others by bad conversation, and therefore overthrow themselves in the same manner through their own fault, not foreseeing dangers manifest.

3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:

     Ariadne […] quitted her Lover Theseus, for the tumultuous Conversation of Bacchus.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 333:

     The landlady therefore would by no means have admitted any conversation of a disreputable kind to pass under her roof.

4. (obsolete) Engagement with a specific subject, idea, field of study etc.; understanding, familiarity. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:

     So grosse is our conuersation, and dull is our apprehension: while mortall Sense, in vs, ruleth the common wealth of our litle world.

5. Expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or occasion of such talking. [from 16th c.]

   I had an interesting conversation with Nicolas yesterday about how much he's getting paid.

   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

     Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. […] Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.

6. (fencing) The back-and-forth play of the blades in a bout.
7. (computing) The protocol-based interaction between systems processing a transaction. [from 20th c.]

• To make conversation means to start a conversation with someone with no other aim than to talk and break the silence.
• To have a conversation, and to hold a conversation, both mean to converse.
• See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

• (expression and exchange of ideas through talking): banter, chat, chinwag, dialogue, discussion, interlocution, powwow, table talk

• conversational
• conversation piece
• make conversation

• converse
• conversant

conversation (third-person singular simple present conversations, present participle conversationing, simple past and past participle conversationed)

1. (nonstandard, transitive, intransitive) To engage in conversation (with).
   • 1983, James Frederick Mason, Hélène Joséphine Harvitt, The French review

     Gone now are the "high-minded" style, the "adapted from literature" feel, the voice-over narration, and the abstract conversationing about ideas, values...

   • 1989, Robert L Gale, A Henry James encyclopedia

     ...he has breakfasted me, dined me, conversationed me, absolutely caressed me. He has been really most kind and paternal...

   • 2002, Georgie Nickell, I Only Smoke on Thursdays

     After all this conversationing, Scottie, my usual dance partner, was getting antsy and wanted to dance.

• conservation, nanovortices

Borrowed from Latin conversātiō (“conversation”).

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.vɛʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: conversations
• Hyphenation: con‧ver‧sa‧tion

conversation f (plural conversations)

1. conversation

• bavardage
• causerie
• dialogue
• discussion

• communication

• aparté
• interview

• avoir de la conversation
• conversationnel

• “conversation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• conservation