Library / English Dictionary

CONVERSATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("conversation" is a kind of...):

language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication ((language) communication by word of mouth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conversation"):

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))

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)

nothings (inconsequential conversation)

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)

Derivation:

conversational (characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation)

conversationalist; conversationist (someone skilled at conversation)

converse (carry on a conversation)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was finding this conversation fascinating.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

One clue is that you can zone in and out of conversations or tasks when appropriate, then naturally tune back in without missing important points or steps.

(Daydreaming Is Good: It Means You're Smart, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Something as simple as an everyday conversation causes the brains of the participants to begin to work simultaneously.

(Our Brains Synchronize during A Conversation, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A conversation with an individual regarding his or her background and other personal and professional details, opinions on specific subjects posed by the interviewer, etc.

(Interview, NCI Thesaurus)

Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) Carry out an appropriate telephone conversation?

(DAD - Carry Out an Appropriate Telephone Conversation, NCI Thesaurus)

It uses relatively inexpensive, focused educational mechanisms that can be used during short one-on-one conversations with physicians.

(Academic Detailing, NCI Thesaurus)

Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Is the patient less likely to initiate a conversation?

(NPI - Less Likely Initiate to Initiate a Conversation, NCI Thesaurus)

Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

My poor husband would sit pale and listless, listening to the endless raving upon politics and upon social questions which made up our visitor’s conversation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was on the afternoon of the day before the fight that this conversation took place between my uncle and myself in the dainty sanctum of his Jermyn-Street house.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)