versus
Americanpreposition
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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.
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as compared to or as one of two choices; in contrast with: v., vs.
traveling by plane versus traveling by train.
preposition
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v. vs. (esp in a competition or lawsuit) against; in opposition to
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as opposed to; in contrast with
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”; see verse
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“There’s only so many times you can talk about what’s going on with open versus closed models in AI,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
An updated dashboard from Azhar and research analyst Nathan Warren shows how their gauges look now versus a year ago — trouble for the AI boom is looming if two gauges are in the red.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
An entire set of gear cost less than ¥100 a day, versus tens of thousands of yuan to buy.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Like actual religion, to continue on versus stopping becomes a question of faith.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Having coined the phrase nature versus nurture, Galton had wondered how a scientist might discern the influence of one over the other.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
