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Webster 1913 Edition


Conversation

Conˊver-sa′tion

,
Noun.
[OE.
conversacio
(in senses 1 & 2), OF.
conversacion
, F.
conversation
, fr. L.
conversatio
frequent abode in a place, intercourse, LL. also, manner of life.]
1.
General course of conduct; behavior.
[Archaic]
Let your
conversation
be as it becometh the gospel.
Philip. i. 27.
2.
Familiar intercourse; intimate fellowship or association; close acquaintance.
Conversation with the best company.”
Dryden.
I set down, out of long experience in business and much
conversation
in books, what I thought pertinent to this business.
Bacon.
3.
Commerce; intercourse; traffic.
[Obs.]
All traffic and mutual
conversation
.
Hakluyt.
4.
Colloquial discourse; oral interchange of sentiments and observations; informal dialogue.
The influence exercised by his [Johnson’s]
conversation
was altogether without a parallel.
Macaulay.
Syn. – Intercourse; communion; commerce; familiarity; discourse; dialogue; colloquy; talk; chat.
Conversation
,
Talk
. There is a looser sense of these words, in which they are synonymous; there is a stricter sense, in which they differ. Talk is usually broken, familiar, and versatile. Conversation is more continuous and sustained, and turns ordinarily upon topics or higher interest. Children talk to their parents or to their companions; men converse together in mixed assemblies. Dr. Johnson once remarked, of an evening spent in society, that there had been a great deal of talk, but no conversation.

Webster 1828 Edition


Conversation

CONVERSATION

,
Noun.
1.
General course of manners; behavior; deportment; especially as it respects morals.
Let your conversation be as becometh the gospel. Philippians 1.
Be ye holy in all manner of conversation. 1 Peter 1.
2.
A keeping company; familiar intercourse; intimate fellowship or association; commerce in social life. Knowledge of men and manners is best acquired by conversation with the best company.
3.
Intimate and familiar acquaintance; as a conversation with books, or other object.
4.
Familiar discourse; general intercourse of sentiments; chat; unrestrained talk; opposed to a formal conference.
What I mentioned in conversation was not a new thought.
[This is now the most general use of the word.]

Definition 2024


convèrsâtion

convèrsâtion

See also: conversation

Norman

Noun

convèrsâtion f (plural convèrsâtions)

  1. (Jersey) conversation

Derived terms