converse

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

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

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, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [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
   • 1727, James Thomson, Summer

     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
   • 1689-1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book II

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

• conversation

converse

1. (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.

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

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

converse (not comparable)

1. opposite; reversed in order or relation; reciprocal

   a converse proposition

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.

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

• conversely

• Cervones, conserve, coveners

• Audio

  (file)

converse f sg

1. feminine singular of convers

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

• convergé (rare)

converse

1. third-person singular past historic of convergere

• conserve, scernevo

converse

1. vocative masculine singular of conversus

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

• IPA^(key): /komˈberse/, [kõmˈberse]

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.