vis-à-vis

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Contents

English [edit]

WOTD – 14 November 2008    

Etymology [edit]

From French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).

Pronunciation [edit]

  • (UK) IPA: /viːz.ɑːˈviː/, /viːz.æˈviː/
  • (US) IPA: /viz.ɑˈvi/, /viz.əˈvi/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
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    Audio (US)
    		(file)

Preposition [edit]

vis-à-vis

  1. In relation to; compared with;
    Canada's role vis-à-vis the United States' in Afghanistan
  2. Opposite, across from, set so as to be facing.
    He was seated vis-à-vis the president.

Translations [edit]

in relation to
opposite
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Wikipedia

Noun [edit]

vis-à-vis (plural vis-à-vis)

  1. (historical) A small horse-drawn carriage for two people sitting facing each other.
    • 1761, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, vol. 3, Penguin 2003, p. 188:
      there is not a greater difference between a single-horse chair and madam Pompadour’s vis a vis, than betwixt a single amour, and an amour thus nobly doubled
  2. A sofa with seats for two people, so arranged that the occupants are face to face while sitting on opposite sides.
  3. One of two (or more) people facing or opposite each other during a formal dance, at a dinner table etc.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society 2005, p. 136:
      That was what Miss McKenna said, and the Sergeant who was my vis-à-vis looked the same thing.
  4. A date or escort in a social event.
    Have you seen Mary's vis-à-vis before?
  5. A person holding a corresponding position in another organisation; a counterpart.
    I talked with my vis-à-vis in the French embassy.

Translations [edit]

carriage for two
person facing another
date
counterpart — see counterpart

Adjective [edit]

Nero vis-à-vis Agrippina.

vis-à-vis (not comparable)

  1. face-to-face
  2. in relation to
  3. (numismatics, of a coin) having two portraits facing each other

Translations [edit]

face-to-face — see face-to-face

Adverb [edit]

vis-à-vis (not comparable)

  1. face to face (with another)
  2. (archaic) In a position facing a specified or implied subject.

Translations [edit]

face to face

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

vis +‎ à +‎ vis, vis being an obsolete word form face, replaced in Modern French by visage.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /vizavi/

Adverb [edit]

vis-à-vis

  1. (archaic) Facing, face-to-face.

Synonyms [edit]

Noun [edit]

vis-à-vis m (plural vis-à-vis)

  1. A meeting, especially a private one.
  2. A position where two things face each other.
    Les maisons sont en vis-à-vis. The houses face each other.
  3. An equivalent.
    • 1886, Auguste Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, L'Ève future, XVII. Dissection,
      Quoi de plus attristant, de plus dissolvant que l’abominable être qu’on nomme une « femme d’esprit », si ce n’est son vis-à-vis, le beau parleur ? What is worse, more dissolving than this abomination called the "spiritual woman", if not its equivalent, the "beau parleur"?
  4. (rare) What faces someone or something, such as a view or the person seated in front.
  5. (historical) A type of S-shaped couch or sofa that allows people to be seated face-to-face.

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

German [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).

Preposition [edit]

vis-à-vis

  1. vis-à-vis

Synonyms [edit]

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