English

Noun

colloquy ‎(plural colloquies)

1. A conversation or dialogue. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:

     And she repeated the free caress into which her colloquies with Maisie almost always broke and which made the child feel that her affection at least was a gage of safety.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 1/1/2, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     House Prees and Bloods […] were everywhere to be seen in earnest colloquy. For the matter was, that there was some sort of night-prowler about the school grounds.

2. (obsolete) A formal conference. [16th-17th c.]
3. (Christianity) A church court held by certain Reformed denominations. [from 17th c.]
4. A written discourse. [from 18th c.]
5. (law) A discussion during a trial in which a judge ensures that the defendant understands what is taking place in the trial and what their rights are.
   • 1999, H. L. Pohlman, The Whole Truth?: A Case of Murder on the Appalachian Trail, ISBN 1-55849-165-1, page 193:

     At the end of the colloquy, Judge Spicer asked Carr whether anyone had "pressured" him into accepting the deal.

Antonyms

• (a conversation of multiple people): soliloquy

Hypernyms

• conversation, conference, discourse, discussion

Coordinate terms

• dialog, dialogue

Derived terms

• colloquial
• colloquist

Related terms

Translations

See also

• colloquium

References

1. ↑ “colloquy” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
2. ↑ “colloquy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).