vis-à-vis

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See also: vis-a-vis and vis-á-vis

English

WOTD – 14 November 2008

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /viːz.ɑːˈviː/, /viːz.æˈviː/
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  • Audio (US):(file)
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Preposition

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

Noun

Historical vis-à-vis carriage (1)

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.
    • 1933, Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, Penguin 2005, p. 456:
      But the wrath that I awaited did not descend. Instead, my young vis-à-vis merely looked melancholy.
  4. A date or escort in a social event.
    • 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.
  5. A person holding a corresponding position in another organisation.
    Synonym: counterpart
    I talked with my vis-à-vis in the French embassy.

Translations

Adjective

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

Adverb

vis-à-vis (not comparable)

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

Translations

Further reading

Danish

Adverb

vis-à-vis

  1. Alternative spelling of vis-a-vis

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Adverb

vis-à-vis

  1. (archaic) Facing, face-to-face.
    Synonym: face à face

Noun

vis-à-vis m (plural vis-à-vis)

  1. A meeting, especially a private one.
    Synonym: tête-à-tête
  2. A position where two things face each other.
    Les maisons sont en vis-à-vis.
    The houses face each other.
  3. An equivalent.
    Synonym: homologue
    • 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.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → English: vis-à-vis
  • → German: vis-à-vis

Further reading

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).

Preposition

vis-à-vis

  1. (literary, dated outside Switzerland) vis-à-vis
    Synonym: gegenüber
    • 2002, “Hi Freaks”, in Tocotronic, performed by Tocotronic:
      Hi freaks look at me / Autogramme vis-à-vis / Gegenüber einer Welt / Deren Umriss uns gefällt / Das Geld steht schon bereit / Hast du morgen Zeit
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

Polish

Etymology

From French vis-à-vis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): //viˈza.vi// invalid IPA characters (//)

Preposition

vis-à-vis (+ genitive)

  1. opposite (across from)
    Synonyms: naprzeciw, naprzeciwko

Further reading

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