Jump To:

• converse
  converse

  verb (used without object)

  to talk informally with another or others; exchange views, opinions, etc., by talking.
• Converse
  Converse

  noun

  Frederick Shepherd 1871–1940, U.S. composer.

converse

¹ American  

[kuhn-vurs, kon-vurs] / kənˈvɜrs, ˈkɒn vɜrs /

verb (used without object)

• converses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• conversed,
  past participle,  past
• conversing
  present participle

1. to talk informally with another or others; exchange views, opinions, etc., by talking.

   Synonyms:

   jaw, gab, talk, confer, chat

2. Archaic. to maintain a familiar association (usually followed bywith ).

3. Obsolete. to have sexual intercourse (usually followed bywith ).

---

noun

1. familiar discourse or talk; conversation.

converse ² American  

[kuhn-vurs, kon-vurs, kon-vurs] / kənˈvɜrs, ˈkɒn vɜrs, ˈkɒn vɜrs /

adjective

1. opposite or contrary in direction, action, sequence, etc.; turned around.

---

noun

1. something opposite or contrary.

2. Logic.

   1. a proposition obtained from another proposition by conversion.

   2. the relation between two terms, one of which is related to the other in a given manner, as “younger than” to “older than.”

3. a group of words correlative with a preceding group but having a significant pair of terms interchanged, as “hot in winter but cold in summer” and “cold in winter but hot in summer.”

Converse ³ American  

[kon-vurs] / ˈkɒn vɜrs /

noun

1. Frederick Shepherd 1871–1940, U.S. composer.

---

converse ¹ British  

verb

1. to engage in conversation (with)

2. to commune spiritually (with)

3. obsolete

   1. to associate; consort

   2. to have sexual intercourse

---

noun

1. conversation (often in the phrase hold converse with )

2. obsolete

   1. fellowship or acquaintance

   2. sexual intercourse

converse ² British  

/ ˈkɒnvɜːs /

adjective

1. (prenominal) reversed; opposite; contrary

---

noun

1. something that is opposite or contrary

2. logic

   1. a categorical proposition obtained from another by the transposition of subject and predicate, as no bad man is bald from no bald man is bad

   2. a proposition so derived, possibly by weakening a universal proposition to the corresponding particular, as some socialists are rich from all rich men are socialists

3. logic maths a relation that holds between two relata only when a given relation holds between them in reverse order: thus father of is the converse of son of

Synonym Usage

See speak.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• converser
  noun
• conversely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• conversing
  present
• conversed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• converse
  simple
• converses
  simple
• have conversed
  perfect
• has conversed
  perfect
• am conversing
  progressive
• are conversing
  progressive
• is conversing
  progressive
• have been conversing
  perfect progressive
• has been conversing
  perfect progressive

Past

• conversed
  simple
• had conversed
  perfect
• was conversing
  progressive
• were conversing
  progressive
• had been conversing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will converse
  simple
• will have conversed
  perfect
• will be conversing
  progressive
• will have been conversing
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of converse¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English conversen, from Middle French converser, from Latin conversārī “to associate with”; see con-, verse

Origin of converse²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English convers, from Anglo-French or directly from Latin conversus, past participle of convertere “to turn around,” equivalent to con- “with, together” + vert- “to turn” + -tus past participle suffix; cf. convert ¹

---

Explanation

Converse is a more formal way of saying "carry on a conversation." You could converse with your best friend for hours over lunch, but continue the chit-chat through the afternoon matinee and you might get shushed. Oddly enough, converse was originally a verb meaning “to move about, live or dwell” when it first came into existence in the mid 14th century. But today we only use converse to talk about, well, talking. Quipped the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “When marrying, one should ask oneself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this woman into your old age?” A good question for marrying men and women!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

converse Converse converses conversed conversing

After initial training, the model is like a math student who has read every math textbook ever written but has never been taught to converse about math or answer questions in a natural way.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

The company will expand its "ask" feature which can enable parents to control whom their children can speak with, requiring parental approval before they can converse with an unknown person.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Meanwhile, a separate team of coders that made Moltbook, a Reddit-like pseudo social network where OpenClaw agents converse, are joining Meta.

From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026

People converse with AI chatbots to help write, get recommendations and analyze data.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026

By then Herbie was desperate, and so, leaping at the chance to converse with a relatively friendly English-speaking person, he blurted, “Excuse me, sir, but maybe you can help me, I’m looking for Mr. Cantu.”

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

In an apology, first issued on Friday, Converse said the photo had been removed from its social media channels and it was working to remove it elsewhere.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Authorities also found a Converse Chuck Taylor shoe impression on the edge of the roof of the building from which the gunman fired.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

For its fiscal fourth quarter, which runs through May, Nike expects sales to fall 2% to 4%, weighed down by weaker trends in its Converse segment and difficulties in China, whose economy has been shaky.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026

In the tangle of balled-up socks and dust and ratty magazines sat the Converse shoe box—the glimmer of red star on the lid, the march of thick blue letters along the side.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

But Domingo, who converses with Kościuszko in English, is also a bit of an anachronism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026

Later in the same episode, she laments what could have been as she converses with a stranger she meets at a resort lounge.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2025

Convinced that Nancy is a cipher for her own lost youth, Myrtle intermittently hallucinates the dead girl’s ghost, and even converses with it.

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024

She converses with the corpse of her father, apparently a chancellor before her, rotting away in a glass coffin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2024

He occasionally converses about the circus with his fellow pub dwellers.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Michl Binderbauer, chief executive of TAE, said in an interview that he has spoken with Donald Trump Jr., who will sit on the company’s nine-person board, but hasn’t conversed with the president.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

“When situations and circumstances arise like that, those will be things that I guarantee you will be addressed and conversed over,” McVay said Friday during a videoconference with reporters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025

Norman said he conversed with Trump twice on Friday.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2025

The actor conversed with Evans in anticipation of his upcoming Apple TV+ drama series “Bad Monkey.”

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2024

While they conversed, the Wayfinder came near, leading the shades of suitors overthrown by Lord Odysseus.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

He was driven to build the Sunflower Sound System after performing in clubs around the globe, conversing with the people who built the systems he was using and taking notes about their designs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

One executive, thinking he was communicating with an employee by teletype when in fact he was conversing with Eliza, finally asked, “why are you being so snotty to me?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

During the pandemic, some employees would spent their lunch breaks conversing with the chatbots for fun, Zinger said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

Before her departure, Keyser appeared in the first 20 minutes of Thursday's episode, conversing with one of the male contestants before appearing briefly in two further non-speaking scenes.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Have you ever heard people conversing while you’re falling asleep?”

From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---