conversazione
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of conversazione
First recorded in 1740–50; from Italian; literally, “conversation, meeting to hold a conversation”; see origin at conversation ( def. )
Explanation
A conversazione isn’t just a casual chat — it’s a lively, engaging, and intellectual conversation where people talk about art, literature, and culture. The word conversazione comes from the Italian word for "conversation" and originally referred to a social gathering centered around stimulating conversation. These events became popular in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries as a way for intellectuals and artists to exchange ideas in an informal environment. Unlike casual small talk, a conversazione is about having meaningful discussions in a setting that encourages creativity and deep thinking.
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.
See Examples For:
He has always been a fine painter of sociability, and the traditional genre of the conversazione fits his photocollage methods like a glove.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like many a tourist before & after, he found ample material for jokes in such things as French opera and royalty, nuns and pubs, Italian comedy and conversazione.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the night of the conversazione, Mr. Hearty and Mrs. Bindle arrived early in order to put finishing touches to everything.
From Adventures of Bindle by Jenkins, Herbert George
Of our sport, I only recollect the massacre of a dozen snakes, which were holding a kind of conversazione in the hollow of a rocky islet where we landed to dine.
From Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the red men by Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
This was followed by a conversazione in the parlor, in which the distinguished parties who had accompanied the Pope took part.
From Pius IX. And His Time by Dawson, Æneas MacDonell
It was while he was teaching English at the University of Chicago that he met "Harriet," who kept alive the torch of culture by all-night literary conversaziones around a lakeshore bonfire.
From Time Magazine Archive
The great magnet was the famed Mademoiselle Scudery, whose voluminous romances were their code; and it is supposed these tomes preserve some of their lengthened conversaziones.
From Literary Character of Men of Genius Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions by Disraeli, Isaac
Arrived at Cumae, he frequented the conversaziones of the old men, and delighted all by the charms of his poetry.
From The Odyssey by Pope, Alexander
It was talked of, canvassed over, and commented upon, at the band stand, race course, conversaziones, and mess room, for several days, and, in fact, until the mystery was cleared up by a startling denouement.
From Vellenaux A Novel by Forrest, E. W. (Edmund William)
For the life that was dead it had a perfect passion, and it sometimes held conversaziones to gaze at it through microscopes.
From The Romance of Zion Chapel [3d ed.] by Le Gallienne, Richard
Dancing and masquerading are now over and Requiems and the Miserere the order of the day at the conversazioni.
From After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by Frye, Major W. E
You may absent yourself for weeks together from these conversazioni, and nobody will on your re-appearance enquire where you have been or what you have been doing.
From After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by Frye, Major W. E
I have seen," said he, "aristocratic and republican réunions of the purest mode in Paris, the court and the banker's circle of London, conversazioni at Rome and Florence.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 09, July, 1858 by Various
I knew him personally, and had met him often at conversazioni and elsewhere.
From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5 With His Letters and Journals by Moore, Thomas
In the course of time the desire for spiritual sympathy led to the formation of reading clubs and conversazioni.
From Jewish Literature and Other Essays by Karpeles, Gustav
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.
