conversation

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conversation

talk; spoken exchange of ideas, feelings, thoughts, and opinions

Not to be confused with:

conservation – controlled use and protection of natural resources, as forests, wetlands, endangered species, etc.

con·ver·sa·tion

(kŏn′vər-sā′shən)

1. The exchange of thoughts and feelings by means of speech or sign language: gifted in the art of conversation.

2. An instance of this: held a long conversation on the subject.

con′ver·sa′tion·al adj.

con′ver·sa′tion·al·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

conversation

(ˌkɒnvəˈseɪʃən)

1. (Communications & Information) the interchange through speech of information, ideas, etc; spoken communication

2. make conversation to talk in an artificial way

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

con•ver•sa•tion

(ˌkɒn vərˈseɪ ʃən)

n.

1. informal spoken interchange of thoughts, information, etc.; oral communication between people.

2. an instance of this.

3. an interchange resembling spoken conversation.

4. the ability to talk socially with others: a person with no conversation.

5. association or social intercourse; intimate acquaintance.

6. Obs.

a. behavior or manner of living.

b. close familiarity, as from constant use or study.

[1300–50; Middle English < Latin conversātiō society, intercourse =conversā(rī) to associate with (see converse¹) + -tiō -tion]

Conversation

Conversation … was like trying to communicate with a ship sinking in mid-Atlantic when you’re on shore —William Mcllvanney
The American’s conversation is much like his courtship … he gives in and watches for a reaction; if the weather looks fair, he inkles a little —Donald Lloyd, Harper’s Magazine, September 19, 1963
See Also: CHARACTERISTICS, NATIONAL
Chattering as foolishly as two slightly mad squirrels —James Crumley
See Also: FOOLISHNESS
Conversation … as edifying as listening to a leak dropping in a tin dish-pan at the head of the bed when you want to go to sleep —O. Henry
A conversation between the two of you must be like listening to two pecans in a bowl —Geoffrey Wolff
The character who utters this simile in Wolffs novel, Providence, follows it up with “Why don’t you let him shoot 500 cc of thorazine right in your heart and get it over.”
Conversation … crisp and varied as a freshly tossed salad —Anon
Conversation … it was like talk at a party, leap-frogging, sparring, showing-off —Nina Bawden
Conversation, like lettuce, requires a good deal of oil to avoid friction, and keep the company smooth —Charles Dudley Warner
Conversation … like dialogue from a play that had run too long and the acting had gone stale —John McGahern
Conversation … rapid and guttural as gunfire —Harvey Swados
The conversations … behaved like green logs, they fumed but would not fire —Truman Capote
Conversation should be like a salad, composed of various ingredients, and well stirred with salt, oil, and vinegar —Joaquin Setanti
Conversation … should flow, like waters after summer showers, not as if raised by mere mechanic powers —William Cowper
Conversation … sweet as clover —Ogden Nash
The conversation was just like clockwork. It recurred regularly, except that there was no need to wind anything up —Walter De La Mare
Conversed in whispers … like doctors consulting on a difficult case —Jean Stafford
Conversed like tennis players, back and forth, stroke for stroke —Jessamyn West
Converse with himself, like a prisoner alone in his cell or like a wayfarer lost in a wilderness —Joseph Conrad
Cutting off the small talk with an opening question like a serve —Elizabeth Spencer
Discourses on subjects above our comprehension … it’s like listening to an unknown language —Henry Fielding
See Also: BEWILDERMENT
A false and most unnatural kind of chatting, like Fighters meeting at a weigh-in —Norman Mailer
Mailer was describing the beginning of an interview with Mike Wallace.
From time to time … talk becomes effective, conquering like war, widening the boundaries of knowledge like an exploration —Robert Louis Stevenson
Gabbing like college girls with the handsomest boy on campus waiting at the curb in big convertibles —Richard Ford
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after —Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Good conversation, like any game, calls for equals in strength —Jacques Barzun
Good conversation unrolls itself like the spring or like the dawn —W. B. Yeats
A good talk is like a good dinner: one assimilates it —Jerome K. Jerome
Good talk is … like an impromptu piece of acting where each should represent himself to greatest advantage —Robert Louis Stevenson
Good talk is like good scenery —continuous, yet constantly varying, and full of the charm of novelty and surprise —Randolph S. Bourne
Had the ability to turn any conversation into an interrogation —Ann Beattie
He [the inveterate punster] followed conversation as a shark follows a ship, or, to shift the metaphor, he was like Jack Horner and stuck in his thumb to pull out a pun —Stephen Leacock
(For a person accustomed to obsequiousness and flattery) his conversation is by much too strong, like mustard in a child’s mouth —Hester Lynch Thrale
Thrale thus targeted Samuel Johnson’s brusque manner.
(She) hit on the commonplace like a hammer driving a nail into the wall. She plunged into the obvious like a clown in a circus jumping through a hoop —W. Somerset Maugham
Maugham’s biting simile describe a dull conversationalist in his story, Winter Cruise.
In conversation … like playing on the harp; there is much in laying the hands on the strings to stop their vibration as in twanging them to bring out the music —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
In married conversation as in surgery, the knife must be used with care —Andre Maurois, February, 1955
See Also: MARRIAGE
The joke went on and on … scaring away any other kind of conversation like a schoolyard bully —William H. Gass
Like the alternating patches of sun and shade that fell on the windshield as the clouds skidded overhead, the conversation inside the pickup went by fits and starts —Phyllis Naylor
(Their habit was to engage in this) mock banter, where they slipped truths into their jokes … like filling cream puffs —David R. Slavitt
Natural talk, like ploughing, should turn up a large surface of life, rather than dig mines —Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson elaborated on his simile as follows: “Masses of experience, anecdote, incident, crosslights, quotation, historical instances, the whole flotsam and jetsam of two minds forced in and upon the matter at hand from every point of the compass, and from every degree of mental elevation and abasement, these are the materials with which talk is fortified, the food on which the talkers thrive.”
(He had) practiced his portion of the conversation so many times … that he felt like an actor in a stock company —Herbert Gold
Quips flew back and forth like balls between two long-experienced jugglers in a circus ring —Natascha Wodin
The room seethes with talk. Always a minimum of three conversations, like crosswinds —Rosellen Brown
Small talk is like the air that shatters the stalactites into dust again —Anaïs Nin
The talk came like the spilling of grain from a sack, in bursts of fullness that were shut off in mid-sentence as if someone had closed the sack abruptly and there was more talk inside —Shirley W. Schoonover
Talked … like old friends in mourning —Nadine Gordimer
Talking to Bill is like opening a new bottle of ketchup; you gotta wait a while before anything comes out —Jonathan Valin
In his novel, Life’s Work, Valin expands on this with “Sometimes you wait and nothing happens.”
Talking to him was like playing upon an exquisite violin. He answered to every touch and thrill of the bow —Oscar Wilde
Talking to them is like trying to get a zeppelin off the ground —Penelope Gilliatt
See Also: DIFFICULTY
Talking to you is like addressing the Berlin Wall —Colin Forbes
See Also: FUTILITY
Talking to you is like sending out your laundry, you don’t know what the hell is coming back —Neil Simon
See Also: UNCERTAINTY
Talking to you is like talking to my forearm —Geoffrey Wolff
See Also: ABSURDITY
Talking with him [George McGovern] is like eating a Chinese meal. An hour after it’s over, you wonder whether you really ate anything —Eugene McCarthy
See Also: INCOMPLETENESS, INSULTS
Talking with you is more like boxing than talking —Larry McMurtry
The simile from Somebody’s Darling continues as follows: “You’re always hitting me with a jab.”
Talk that warms like wine —Babette Deutsch
Their remarks and responses were like a Ping-Pong game with each volley clearing the net and flying back to the opposition —Maya Angelou
Trading talk like blows —Anne Sexton
See Also: ARGUMENT

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

conversation - the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.

speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, voice communication, oral communication, speech, language - (language) communication by word of mouth; "his speech was garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the spoken language of the streets"

crossfire - a lively or heated interchange of ideas and opinions

phatic communication, phatic speech - conversational speech used to communicate sociability more than information

exchange - a mutual expression of views (especially an unpleasant one); "they had a bitter exchange"

chat, confab, confabulation, schmoose, schmooze - an informal conversation

gossiping, gossipmongering - a conversation that spreads personal information about other people

talk, talking - an exchange of ideas via conversation; "let's have more work and less talk around here"

nothings - inconsequential conversation; "they traded a few nothings as they parted"

commerce - social exchange, especially of opinions, attitudes, etc.

colloquy - formal conversation

rap - voluble conversation

rap session - conversation in a situation where feelings can be expressed and criticized or supported

second-hand speech - overheard conversation (especially overheard cellphone conversation)

table talk - conversation during a meal

telephone conversation - a conversation over the telephone

tete-a-tete - a private conversation between two people

conversation

noun talk, exchange, discussion, dialogue, tête-à-tête, conference, communication, chat, gossip, intercourse, discourse, communion, converse, powwow, colloquy, chinwag (Brit. informal), confabulation, confab (informal), craic (Irish informal) Our telephone conversation lasted an hour and a half.

Related words
adjective colloquial

Quotations
"The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as being heard" [William Hazlitt The Plain Speaker]
"That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments" [Samuel Johnson]
"In conversation discretion is more important than eloquence" [Baltasar Gracián The Art of Worldly Wisdom]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

conversation

noun

Spoken exchange:

chat, colloquy, confabulation, converse, dialogue, discourse, speech, talk.

Informal: confab.

Slang: jaw.

Translations

مُحَادَثَةمُحادَثَه، حَديث

rozhovor

samtalekonversation

Unterhaltung Gespräch Konversation Rede

συνομιλία συζήτηση

conversación

vestlus

keskustelu

conversation

razgovor

társalgásbeszélgetés

samtal

conversazione discorso colloquio

会話

대화

colloquium

pokalbisšnekamasis

saruna

conversaţie

pogovor

razgovor

samtal

บทสนทนา

konuşma sohbet

cuộc nói chuyện

会话

conversation

[ˌkɒnvə^rˈseɪʃ^ən] n → conversation f
to be in conversation → s'entretenir
to make conversation → faire la conversation conversation class

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

conversation

n → Gespräch nt, → Unterhaltung f; (Sch) → Konversation f; to make conversation → sich unterhalten; (= small talk) → Konversation machen; to get into/be in conversation with somebody → mit jdm ins Gespräch kommen/im Gespräch sein; deep in conversation → ins Gespräch vertieft; to have a conversation/several conversations with somebody (about something) → sich mit jdm/mehrmals mit jdm (→ über etw acc) → unterhalten; he has no conversation → mit ihm kann man sich nicht unterhalten; his conversation is so amusing → er ist ein unterhaltsamer Gesprächspartner; a subject of conversation → ein Gesprächsthema nt; words used only in conversation → Wörter, die nur in der gesprochenen Sprache gebraucht werden; we only mentioned it in conversation → wir haben das nur gesprächsweise erwähnt; the art of conversation → die Kunst der gepflegten Konversation or Unterhaltung

conversation

conversation mode

n (Comput) → Dialogbetrieb m

conversation piece

n → Gesprächsgegenstand m

conversation stopper

n that was a real conversation → das brachte die Unterhaltung zum Erliegen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

conversation

[ˌkɒnvəˈseɪʃ/ən] n → conversazione f
in conversation with → a colloquio con
to have a conversation with sb → conversare con qn, parlare con qn
what was your conversation about? → di che cosa parlavate?

conversation

(konvəˈseiʃən) noun

talk between people. to carry on a conversation.

ˌconverˈsational adjective

1. informal or colloquial. conversational English.

2. fond of talking. He's in a conversational mood.

conversation

→ مُحَادَثَة rozhovor samtale Unterhaltung συνομιλία conversación keskustelu conversation razgovor conversazione 会話 대화 conversatie konversasjon rozmowa conversa разговор samtal บทสนทนา konuşma cuộc nói chuyện 会话

References in classic literature ?

There are four or five people here that have come to learn the language--not to take lessons, but to have an opportunity for conversation. I was very glad to come to such a place, for I had begun to realise that I was not making much progress with the French.

I was a good deal troubled, for I felt as if I didn't want to go away without having, at least, got a general idea of French conversation. The theatre gives you a good deal of insight, and as I told you in my last, I go a good deal to places of amusement.

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The greater part of the conversation which he had described himself as overhearing had never taken place.

The first of the ladies declared that she had mentioned arsenic as a means of improving the complexion in conversation with Mrs.

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They had got just so far, and the conversation began to crystallise, as it could but do with the scanty stream which the commonplace world supplied.

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Hurst, principally occupied in playing with her bracelets and rings, joined now and then in her brother's conversation with Miss Bennet.

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When conversation turned on her husband Helene assumed a dignified expression, which with characteristic tact she had acquired though she did not understand its significance.

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Come, tell me how are you getting on?" he went on, obviously anxious to change the conversation.

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Granet was the centre of a little group of people who all seemed to be hanging upon his conversation. He was full of high spirits and humour, debonair, with all the obvious claims to popularity.

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I remember that I thought their conversation brilliant, and I used to listen with astonishment to the stinging humour with which they would tear a brother-author to pieces the moment that his back was turned.

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These being over, the conversation began to be (as the phrase is) extremely brilliant.

View in context

The Abbe Fouquet, not being able to comprehend why his brother should have led the conversation in that direction, listened with all his ears, and sought in the countenance of Gourville, or in that of his brother, an explanation which nothing afforded him.