versus

American  

[vur-suhs, -suhz] / ˈvɜr səs, -səz /

preposition

1. against (used especially to indicate an action brought by one party against another in a court of law, or to denote competing teams or players in a sports contest).

   Smith versus Jones; Army versus Navy.

2. as compared to or as one of two choices; in contrast with: v., vs.

   traveling by plane versus traveling by train.

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versus British  

/ ˈvɜːsəs /

preposition

1.  v.   vs.  (esp in a competition or lawsuit) against; in opposition to

2. as opposed to; in contrast with

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Etymology

Origin of versus

First recorded in 1400–50; Late Middle English, from Latin: literally, “towards,” i.e., “turned so as to face (something), opposite, over against,” originally past participle of vertere “to turn”; verse

Example Sentences

That’s as continued outperformance of rest-of-the-world stocks versus the U.S. are also hitting speed bumps, due to spiking commodity prices and global growth fallout.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

Customer deposit growth was more muted, up 3% versus a year ago.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

That’s visible in the chart above, which also shows a significant but brief drop in WTI versus Brent in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed demand and storage facilities filled up.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

Micron Technology has the lowest P/E on the list: just 4.4, versus 20.5 for the S&P 500.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

But if he wanted to play Scott of the Antarctic versus Amundsen the Norwegian, that was fine by me.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell