colloquy

English

WOTD – 9 June 2012    

Etymology

From Latin colloquium (“conversation”), from com- (“together, with”) (English com-) + form of loquor (“speak”) (from which English locution and other words).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: kŏl'ə-kwē, IPA: /ˈkɒ.lə.kwi/, X-SAMPA: /"kQ.le.kwi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Wikipedia colloquy (plural colloquies)

1. A conversation or dialogue. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:

     And she repeated the free caress into which her colloquies with Maisie almost always broke and which made the child feel that her affection at least was a gage of safety.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 1/1/2, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days^[1]:

     House Prees and Bloods […] were everywhere to be seen in earnest colloquy. For the matter was, that there was some sort of night-prowler about the school grounds.

2. (obsolete) A formal conference. [16th-17th c.]
3. (Christianity) A church court held by certain Reformed denominations. [from 17th c.]
4. A written discourse. [from 18th c.]
5. (law) A discussion during a trial in which a judge ensures that the defendant understands what is taking place in the trial and what their rights are.
   • 1999, H. L. Pohlman, The Whole Truth?: A Case of Murder on the Appalachian Trail, ISBN 1-55849-165-1, page 193:

     At the end of the colloquy, Judge Spicer asked Carr whether anyone had "pressured" him into accepting the deal.

Antonyms

• (a conversation of multiple people): soliloquy

Hypernyms

• conversation, conference, discourse, discussion

Coordinate terms

• dialog, dialogue

Derived terms

• colloquial
• colloquist

Related terms

colloquium circumlocution eloquent

grandiloquent illocution interlocutor

interlocution locution loquacious

magniloquent perlocution soliloquy

Translations

conversation, dialogue

• Bulgarian: разговор (bg) (razgovor), събеседване (bg) (sǎbesedvane)
• Finnish: keskustelu (fi)
• German: Konversation (de) f, Gespräch (de) n

• Russian: собеседование (ru) (sobesedovanije) n, разговор (ru) (razgovor) m
• Swedish: konversation (sv), samtal (sv)

formal conference

• Bulgarian: разискване (bg) (raziskvane)
• Finnish: kokous (fi), kollokvio (fi)

• Russian: конференция (ru) (konferencija) f

Christianity: church court held by certain Reformed denominations

• German: Religionsgespräch (de) n

written discourse

law: discussion during a trial between the judge and the defendant

See also

• colloquium