conversationalist
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of conversationalist
First recorded in 1830–40; conversational + -ist
Explanation
A conversationalist is someone who likes to chat, and is good at it. Conversationalists love to have — surprise! — conversations. If you’re seated at a long formal dinner party, you hope the person next to you is a great conversationalist or you’re in for a long night. A great conversationalist will tell you interesting things and probably make you laugh. For a conversationalist, chatting and bantering come easily. A conversationalist is witty and clever, like Dorothy Parker. A bad conversationalist would say inappropriate things, like tell you about an infection just as you’re taking a bite of mashed potatoes.
Vocabulary lists containing conversationalist
The Catcher in the Rye
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Words with 15 or More Letters, List 3
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"A Job for Valentin" and "In the Heart of a Hero"
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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.
"You must come and see Rome," Conversationalist Mussolini was heard to tell Der F�hrer in German.
From Time Magazine Archive
There Novelist Henry James sat through some of her interminable monologues about art, nicknamed her "The Conversationalist."
From Time Magazine Archive
Upon winning the first game 3-2, convoluted Conversationalist Anderson somehow concluded that a full seven-game Series was assured.
From Time Magazine Archive
To this testimony in confirmation of Mr. Coleridge's intellectual eminence, some high and additional authorities will be added; such as to entitle him to the name of the Great Conversationalist.
From Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey by Cottle, Joseph
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.
