Converse
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /kÉ™nˈvÉœËs/
- US enPR: kÉ™nvûrs', IPA: /kÉ™nˈvÉs/
- Rhymes: -ÉœË(ɹ)s
Origin 1
From Old French converser, from Latin conversare ("live, have dealings with")
Full definition of converse
Verb
- (formal, intransitive) To talk; to engage in conversation.
- ShakespeareCompanions
That do converse and waste the time together. - DrydenWe had conversed so often on that subject.
- To keep company; to hold intimate intercourse; to commune; followed by with.
- ThomsonTo seek the distant hills, and there converse
With nature. - Sir Walter ScottConversing with the world, we use the world's fashions.
- WordsworthBut to converse with heaven — This is not easy.
- (obsolete) To have knowledge of (a thing), from long intercourse or study.
- John Lockeaccording as the objects they converse with afford greater or less variety
Derived terms
Noun
converse
(plural converses)- (noun_discourse)(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.
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˈkÉ’nvÉœËs/
- US enPR: kÅn'vûrs, IPA: /ˈkÉ‘nvÉs/
Origin 2
From Latin conversus ("turned around"), past participle of converto ("turn about")
Noun
converse
(plural converses)- The opposite or reverse.
- (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.