conversant

[kuhn-vur-suhnt, kon-ver-]

adjective

1. familiar by use or study (usually followed bywith ).

   conversant with Spanish history.

   Synonyms: proficient, well-informed, practiced, skilled, learned, versed

2. Archaic.,  having regular or frequent conversation; intimately associating; acquainted.

conversant

/ kənˈvɜːsənt /

adjective

1. experienced (in), familiar (with), or acquainted (with)

Other Word Forms

• conversance noun
• conversancy noun
• conversantly adverb
• nonconversance noun
• nonconversancy noun
• nonconversant adjective
• nonconversantly adverb
• unconversant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of conversant¹

1250–1300; Middle English conversa ( u ) nt < Latin conversant- (stem of conversāns ), present participle of conversārī to associate with. See converse ¹, -ant

Example Sentences

Rewiring America’s coaches are also conversant in these state and local incentives, and the group is hosting a California-specific coaching session on Sept. 11.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It’s not exactly secret, but it’s abstruse enough that they hope most people, who aren’t fully conversant with the complexities of the program, won’t get the drift.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Pagels is conversant with every version of the gospels — even the most obscure — and wades through them with forensic thoroughness.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His reputation as a president conversant in rocker counterculture, though, was noticed by the era’s preeminent gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Please translate for those people who are not conversant in the language of the Christian Right, specifically, and the Christian fundamentalists and other Biblical literalists more broadly.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• abreast 
• acquainted 
• knowledgeable 
• practiced 
• proficient 
• skilled 
• versed