versed

[ vurst ]

/ vɜrst /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR versed ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

experienced; practiced; skilled; learned (usually followed by in): She was well versed in Greek and Latin.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

versailles, treaty of, versal, versant, versatile, verse, versed, versed sine, verset, versicle, versicolor, versicolour

Origin of versed

1600–10; < Latin versātus busied, engaged (see versatile), with -ed² for Latin -ātus

Related formsun·versed, adjective

Definition for versed (2 of 2)

verse

[ vurs ]

/ vɜrs /

noun

(not in technical use) a stanza.

a succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem.

a particular type of metrical line: a hexameter verse.

a poem, or piece of poetry.

metrical composition; poetry, especially as involving metrical form.

metrical writing distinguished from poetry because of its inferior quality: a writer of verse, not poetry.

a particular type of metrical composition: elegiac verse.

the collective poetry of an author, period, nation, etc.: Miltonian verse; American verse.

one of the short conventional divisions of a chapter of the Bible.

Music.

that part of a song following the introduction and preceding the chorus.
a part of a song designed to be sung by a solo voice.

Rare. a line of prose, especially a sentence, or part of a sentence, written as one line.

Rare. a subdivision in any literary work.

adjective

of, relating to, or written in verse: a verse play.

verb (used without object), versed, vers·ing.

versify.

verb (used with object), versed, vers·ing.

to express in verse.

Origin of verse

before 900; Middle English vers(e), fers line of poetry, section of a psalm, Old English fers < Latin versus a row, line (of poetry), literally, a turning, equivalent to vert(ere) to turn (past participle versus) + -tus suffix of v. action, with dt > s; akin to -ward, worth²

SYNONYMS FOR verse

1 Verse, stanza, strophe, stave are terms for a metrical grouping in poetic composition. Verse is often mistakenly used for stanza, but is properly only a single metrical line. A stanza is a succession of lines (verses) commonly bound together by a rhyme scheme, and usually forming one of a series of similar groups that constitute a poem: The four-line stanza is the one most frequently used in English. Strophe (originally the section of a Greek choral ode sung while the chorus was moving from right to left) is in English poetry practically equivalent to “section”; a strophe may be unrhymed or without strict form, but may be a stanza: Strophes are divisions of odes. Stave is a word (now seldom used) that means a stanza set to music or intended to be sung: a stave of a hymn; a stave of a drinking song.

4–6 See poetry.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR verse ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsun·der·verse, noun

Can be confusedverses versus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for versed

Those who are not versed in the lexicon are often left confused, frustrated, and misunderstood.
Families and Physicians Debate the True Meaning of Brain Death|Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Richard Joseph|January 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She says she doubts that Davis is nearly as versed in Scientology because his work has been too demanding.
Scientology's New Face|Kim Masters|October 27, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Harry was not versed in details of trade, but he knew enough to feel that this kind of talk was unpractical.
All Sorts and Conditions of Men|Walter Besant
Mathematician, one versed in Mathematics; a science which treats of magnitude and number.
A Catechism of Familiar Things; Their History, and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery|Benziger Brothers

If closer accuracy is demanded, we can attain it, by taking the versed sine for 1°, and multiplying this by 6².
Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XXI., No. 531, March 6, 1886|Various
It is a spot full of traditions, and well suited to any poet's residence, most of all for one so versed in New England legends.
John Greenleaf Whittier|W. Sloane Kennedy
Neither was versed in the art of wrestling, but both were about the same size.
Frank Armstrong at College|Matthew M. Colton

British Dictionary definitions for versed (1 of 2)

versed

/ (vɜːst) /

adjective

(postpositive foll by in) thoroughly knowledgeable (about), acquainted (with), or skilled (in)

British Dictionary definitions for versed (2 of 2)

verse

/ (vɜːs) /

noun

(not in technical usage) a stanza or other short subdivision of a poem

poetry as distinct from prose

a series of metrical feet forming a rhythmic unit of one line
(as modifier)verse line

a specified type of metre or metrical structureiambic verse

one of the series of short subsections into which most of the writings in the Bible are divided

a metrical composition; poem

verb

a rare word for versify

Word Origin for verse

Old English vers, from Latin versus a furrow, literally: a turning (of the plough), from vertere to turn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for versed (1 of 2)

versed

adj.

"practiced," c.1600, from past participle of obsolete verse "to turn over" (a book, subject, etc.) in study or investigation, from Middle French verser "to turn, revolve" as in meditation, from Latin versare "to busy oneself," literally "to turn to" (see versus).

Word Origin and History for versed (1 of 2)

verse

c.1050, "line or section of a psalm or canticle," later "line of poetry" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French and Old French vers, from Latin versus "verse, line of writing," from PIE root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). The metaphor is of plowing, of "turning" from one line to another (vertere = "to turn") as a plowman does.

Verse was invented as an aid to memory. Later it was preserved to increase pleasure by the spectacle of difficulty overcome. That it should still survive in dramatic art is a vestige of barbarism. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]

Old English had fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin. Meaning "metrical composition" is recorded from c.1300; sense of "part of a modern pop song" (as distinguished from the chorus) is attested from 1927. The English New Testament first was divided fully into verses in the Geneva version (1550s).

Culture definitions for versed

verse

A kind of language made intentionally different from ordinary speech or prose. It usually employs devices such as meter and rhyme, though not always. Free verse, for example, has neither meter nor rhyme. Verse is usually considered a broader category than poetry, with the latter being reserved to mean verse that is serious and genuinely artistic.

Idioms and Phrases with versed

verse

see chapter and verse.