versus

American  

[vur-suhs, -suhz] / ˈvɜr səs, -səz /

preposition

1. against (used especially to indicate an action brought by one party against another in a court of law, or to denote competing teams or players in a sports contest).

   Smith versus Jones; Army versus Navy.

2. as compared to or as one of two choices; in contrast with: v., vs.

   traveling by plane versus traveling by train.

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versus British  

/ ˈvɜːsəs /

preposition

1.  v.   vs.  (esp in a competition or lawsuit) against; in opposition to

2. as opposed to; in contrast with

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Etymology

Origin of versus

First recorded in 1400–50; Late Middle English, from Latin: literally, “towards,” i.e., “turned so as to face (something), opposite, over against,” originally past participle of vertere “to turn”; see verse

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

versus

The average three-month return of all 10 stocks is a 4% loss, versus a gain of 2.7% for the S&P 500.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

“My decision to retire was out of need versus out of wanting to,” said Dee Moore, 65.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

The 10-year OAT yield was last up 0.3 basis point on the day at 4.109% after the data, versus 4.115%, up 0.9 basis point beforehand, according to Tradeweb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

An updated dashboard from Azhar and research analyst Nathan Warren shows how their gauges look now versus a year ago — trouble for the AI boom is looming if two gauges are in the red.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

The bus ride down Arlington Avenue was extremely short, so Jake amused himself by silently factoring percentages for passengers versus bus capacity and average number of potholes per city block.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein