colloquy

American  

[kol-uh-kwee] / ˈkɒl ə kwi /

noun

• colloquies
  plural

1. a conversational exchange; dialogue.

2. a conference.

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colloquy British  

/ ˈkɒləkwɪ /

noun

1. a formal conversation or conference

2. a literary work in dialogue form

3. an informal conference on religious or theological matters

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• colloquist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• colloquies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colloquy

1555–65; < Latin colloquium colloquium

Explanation

A colloquy is a formal talk, the opposite of a chat, such as the colloquy you have with your boss about a serious matter — far different from how you'll talk to your friends about it afterward. To correctly pronounce colloquy, accent the first syllable: "KOLL uh kwee." The word comes from the Latin prefix com-, meaning "together," and loquium, meaning "speaking." That adds up to "speaking together." You probably recognize loqui, meaning "to speak," in words like locution and colloquial, which also involve speaking.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colloquy colloquies

Their colloquy is interrupted when a rampaging animal is heard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

The following “Dear Joe” email exchange is a hypothetical email colloquy between an expert in military law and a fictional service member seeking advice on how to deal with the current situation.

From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025

The unintended effect, however, is of cramped twin biographies, when what we’re here for is a drawn-out colloquy in a tight space: Lewis’ gentle prodding of a rationalist’s edges versus Freud’s fulminating about God’s existence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2023

Some of his dialogue scenes — including a riveting colloquy between the questing Marianne and the questioning bishop — have the shape, rhythm and sorrowful wit of a Sondheim song.

From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2023

Plainly skeptical but unwilling to engage in a colloquy with a wheedling Teller, Fermi pleaded that he was too tired from the flight to give him a hearing, much less a commitment.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

And I heard these colloquies with Kagan and Barrett as a kind of rubber-meets-the-road moment, where they were like: “You need to promise us that this stops here.”

From Slate ● May 16, 2025

Now released publicly, the album radiates companionship, with the guitars — acoustic and electric, picking and sliding — entwined in amiable colloquies.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

You hear it deployed in corporate colloquies, political speeches and school prospectuses as if it were a magic wand.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 21, 2021

Those skits transformed Bob and Doug McKenzie, two knucklehead Canadians, into cultural icons with colloquialism-filled colloquies like this scintillating exchange:

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2020

Hence Plato assigns the Lange's colloquies of man with the animals as the best thing left of Saturn's golden reign.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul

Related Words

• chitchat
• parley