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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.

---

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

An American flag flutters above the red brick building, while merchants cluster and converse outside its entrance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

"They don't have those natural moments where they can just make sense of something that's happened to them, converse with each other, put it down and move onto the next job," she said.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

A Reddit-like pseudo social network for OpenClaw agents called Moltbook, where chatbots converse, has also grabbed headlines and provoked soul-searching over AI.

From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026

People converse with AI chatbots to help write, get recommendations and analyze data.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026

“It’s hard to converse like this. Why don’t you come down from there? You’re new to town, right? I can show you around. Be my pleasure.”

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez

We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Prosecutors played soundless footage of him that night, wearing a maroon shirt, dark hat, jeans and Converse shoes, and he was transported back to Utah County and formally booked on 12 September.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

The sneaker giant will move some of the Converse footwear manufacturing resources closer to factory partners and it will reorganize how its materials supply chain operates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

Investors instead zeroed in on declining profit, softer sales in Greater China, and a 30% slump in revenue for the Converse footwear brand.

From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026

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

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

But Domingo, who converses with Kościuszko in English, is also a bit of an anachronism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026

Eugenie says she converses with others through the food she makes.

From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024

Rizzs listened to all the games he’s missed on radio or watched on television, and converses knowledgeable about the recent outings of Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2023

In its relative orderliness and palatability, “Yes and Yes” is not really a danced analogy to the book, but something else, complex in its own ways, true to Roche’s voice as she converses with another.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2023

Their waiter stops at their table and converses briefly with Widget, paying no notice to the man in the grey suit.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

We sat just a few feet from him, as he conversed with his legal team in hushed tones and spoke to the judge purely to confirm details like his name and age.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

In one unit, students conversed with ChatGPT role-playing the attendees of an 1816 dinner party where Mary Shelley hatched the idea for “Frankenstein,” and then discussed the experience in class.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

The actor conversed with Evans in anticipation of his upcoming Apple TV+ drama series “Bad Monkey.”

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2024

He didn’t recognize them as from Abalu, his own community, but he heard the language in which they conversed and knew they were from neighboring creek clans, anywhere from Kolo to Oloibiri.

From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2023

While Horatio and I conversed as intimates, a new fear took hold of my mind.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Nadella also testified that conversing with chatbots “substituted” for websites, “versus needing to go to the underlying source,” according to the filing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 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

The chatbot, capable of conversing in natural language, captivated global audiences and has since developed advanced coding, voice interaction and image generation capabilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

They were conversing in Arabic, and the boy was proud of himself for being able to do so.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho