CONVERSATION

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does conversation mean? 

• CONVERSATION (noun)
  The noun CONVERSATION has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: CONVERSATION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONVERSATION (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)

 Context examples 

I shall try to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing descriptions and trying to remember conversations.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Wolf Larsen and Henderson were standing near the wheel, deep in conversation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

When I drank it, I affected to interrupt my conversation for that purpose, and to resume it immediately afterwards.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I made some attempts to draw her into conversation, but she seemed a person of few words: a monosyllabic reply usually cut short every effort of that sort.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He did not seem to want to be near enough for conversation.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Now we shall have some sensible conversation.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

With your permission, I would ask the favor of an interview, as I feel strongly upon the subject, and have certain suggestions which I could only elaborate in a personal conversation.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We had got as far as this, when who should walk in but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking his beer in the tap-room and had heard the whole conversation.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now some ducks were sitting together quietly by a brook and taking their rest; and, whilst they were making their feathers smooth with their bills, they were having a confidential conversation together.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)