converse

See also: Converse and conversé

English

Etymology 1

From Old French converser, from Latin conversor (“live, have dealings with”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈvɜːs/
• (US) enPR: kənvûrs', IPA^(key): /kənˈvɝs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

Verb

converse (third-person singular simple present converses, present participle conversing, simple past and past participle conversed)

1. (formal, intransitive) to talk; to engage in conversation
   • c. 1596–1598, W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. With the Extreme Cruelty of Shylocke the Iew towards the saide Merchant, in Cutting a Iust Pound of His Flesh. And the Obtaining of Portia, by the Choyce of Three Caskets, quarto edition, [London]: Printed by J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216, [Act III, scene iv]:
   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden?)

     We had conversed so often on that subject.

2. to keep company; to hold intimate intercourse; to commune; followed by with
   • (Can we date this quote by Thomson?)

     To seek the distant hills, and there converse / With nature.

   • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Scott?)
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, Ivanhoe Chapter 4

     Conversing with the world, we use the world's fashions.

     But to converse with heaven — This is not easy.

3. (obsolete) to have knowledge of (a thing), from long intercourse or study
   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke?)

     according as the objects they converse with afford greater or less variety

Derived terms

• conversation

Translations

to engage in conversation

• Armenian: զրուցել (hy) (zrucʿel)
• Belarusian: размаўля́ць impf (razmaŭljácʹ), размо́віць pf (razmóvicʹ)
• Bulgarian: разговарям (bg) (razgovarjam), беседвам (bg) (besedvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 通話 (zh), 通话 (zh) (tōnghuà)

• Czech: konverzovat, rozmlouvat, hovořit (cs)
• Dutch: converseren (nl)
• Esperanto: interparoli
• Finnish: keskustella (fi)
• French: converser (fr)
• German: sich unterhalten
• Hebrew: שוחח‎‎ (he) (sokhéakh)
• Hindi: बात करना (bāt karnā)
• Icelandic: spjalla (is), tala saman
• Irish: déan comhrá
• Italian: conversare (it)
• Latin: colloquor (la), fabulor, sermocinor
• Maori: kōwetewete, kōrerorero

• Persian: صحبت کردن‎‎ (fa) (sohbat kardan)
• Polish: rozmawiać (pl)
• Portuguese: conversar (pt)
• Quechua: rimachiy, yawnay
• Russian: бесе́довать (ru) (besédovatʹ), обща́ться (ru) (obščátʹsja), разгова́ривать (ru) (razgovárivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: разгова́рати impf

  Roman: razgovárati (sh) impf

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rozgranjaś se impf

• Spanish: conversar (es)
• Swedish: konversera (sv)
• Tagalog: makipag-usap
• Turkish: meşgul olmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: розмовля́ти (uk) impf (rozmovljáty), розмо́вити pf (rozmóvyty)
• Urdu: بات کرنا‎‎ (bāt karnā)
• Welsh: ymddiddan (cy)
• Westrobothnian: bjärg

Noun

converse

2. (now literary) familiar discourse; free interchange of thoughts or views; conversation; chat.
   • 1728, Edward Young, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire V, On Women, lines 44-46:

     Twice ere the sun descends, with zeal inspir'd, / From the vain converse of the world retir'd, / She reads the psalms and chapters for the day […]

   • 1919, Saki, ‘The Disappearance of Crispina Umerleigh’, The Toys of Peace, Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), p. 405:

     In a first-class carriage of a train speeding Balkanward across the flat, green Hungarian plain, two Britons sat in friendly, fitful converse.

Etymology 2

From Latin conversus (“turned around”), past participle of converto (“turn about”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnvɜːs/
• (US) enPR: kŏn'vûrs, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnvɝs/

Adjective

converse (not comparable)

1. opposite; reversed in order or relation; reciprocal

   a converse proposition

Noun

converse (plural converses)

1. the opposite or reverse
2. (logic) of a proposition or theorem of the form: given that "If A is true, then B is true", then "If B is true, then A is true."
   equivalently: given that "All Xs are Ys", then "All Ys are Xs".

   All trees are plants, but the converse, that all plants are trees, is not true.

4. (semantics) one of a pair of terms that name or describe a relationship from opposite perspectives; converse antonym; relational antonym

Derived terms

• conversely

Translations

opposite

• Bulgarian: обратно (bg) n (obratno)
• Dutch: tegenovergestelde (nl)
• Finnish: päinvastainen (fi)
• French: opposé (fr) m, inverse (fr) m

• German: Gegenteil (de) n, Umkehrung f
• Occitan: envèrs (oc), invèrs
• Russian: противоположность (ru) f (protivopoložnostʹ)
• Spanish: revés (es) m, contrario (es) m, conversión f

proposition of the specific form

• Bulgarian: обратна теорема (obratna teorema)
• Finnish: käänteislause, käänteinen lause, käänteinen väite
• French: réciproque (fr) f
• German: Gegenteil (de) n, Umkehrung f, Umkehrschluss m, Gegenschluss m
• Icelandic: andhverfing f

• Occitan: reciproca f
• Portuguese: recíproca f
• Spanish: recíproca (es) f, inversa (es) f, sentido inverso m

Anagrams

• Cervones, conserve, coveners

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French

Adjective

converse f sg

1. feminine singular of convers

Verb

converse

1. first-person singular present indicative of converser
2. third-person singular present indicative of converser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of converser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of converser
5. second-person singular imperative of converser

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Italian

Alternative forms

• convergé (rare)

Verb

converse

1. third-person singular past historic of convergere

Anagrams

• conserve, scernevo

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Latin

Participle

converse

1. vocative masculine singular of conversus

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Portuguese

Verb

converse

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of conversar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of conversar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of conversar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of conversar

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /komˈberse/, [kõmˈberse]

Verb

converse

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of conversar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of conversar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of conversar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of conversar.