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• 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 ).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

The rhythm section of bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Watts locks in, while Richards and Wood converse with their guitars as only they can.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

A lot of the time, these folks converse like they’re at a Nantucket board of health meeting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 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

In a converse way, Kay and Down’s reluctance to be so clean, so shiny and so heteronormative with their characters is just as forward-thinking as any media that conjures a conventional picture of equality.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026

I did not then have a chance actually to converse with him until that second evening after the return of his illness.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

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’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong,” Converse said in a statement to Footwear News on Friday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 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

Nike also said it would be streamlining work at its Air Manufacturing Innovation facilities in Beaverton, Ore., St. Louis and Vietnam, and relocating some manufacturing related to its Converse sneaker brand.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 23, 2026

Instead of Converse or Vans, he had on dark brown hiking boots.

From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence

Sometimes she converses with its voice assistant while driving her car.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025

Subconsciously hearing the words of Shakespeare, Wednesday’s mind travels to a spooky dream state where she converses with a spirit guide and is then told to “wake up,” which she does.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 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

Dong Jun, and Hegseth both attended the Xi-Trump summit in Beijing and conversed at a state banquet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

After play readings last fall that launched the theater, cast members and theatergoers mingled and conversed on the patio outside the building.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025

The four last defendants - including one woman - are people with whom Anzorov conversed on Snapchat and Twitter and who allegedly offered him encouragement.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2024

Instead she toured the clinic and conversed with healthcare providers and patients who were interested in speaking with her.

From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2024

They conversed of things I had never heard of; of nations and times past; of countries far away; of secrets of nature discovered or guessed at: they spoke of books: how many they had read!

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

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

AI is the first invention humans have made that can simulate the process of thinking and conversing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

Once again, and most unusually, they were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling