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vis-à-vis

[vee-zuh-vee; French vee-za-vee]
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adverb
  1. face to face: They sat vis-à-vis at the table.
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adjective
  1. face-to-face: a vis-à-vis encounter.
  2. Numismatics. (of a coin) having two portraits facing each other.
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preposition
  1. in relation to; compared with: income vis-à-vis expenditures.
  2. facing; opposite: They were now vis-à-vis the most famous painting in the Louvre.
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noun, plural vis-à-vis [vee-zuh-veez; French vee-za-vee] /ˌvi zəˈviz; French vi zaˈvi/.
  1. a person face to face with or situated opposite to another: He offered a cigarette to his vis-à-vis.
  2. a date at a social affair: She introduced her vis-à-vis to the hostess.
  3. a person of equal authority, rank, or the like: my vis-à-vis in the Louisville office.
  4. a carriage in which the occupants sit face to face.
  5. Furniture. tête-à-tête(def 2).
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Origin of vis-à-vis

1745–55; < French: face to face; see visage
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vis-a-vis

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The lieutenant turned briskly, so, too, did Mr. Winslow and his vis-a-vis.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Just then Seriosha came and requested me to be his vis-a-vis.

    Childhood

    Leo Tolstoy

  • "That speaks volumes for my charms at that time," interrupted his vis-a-vis.

    Jennie Gerhardt

    Theodore Dreiser

  • He struck one and handed it to his vis-a-vis, bowing with his foreign grace.

  • His vis-a-vis, as luck, or ill-luck would have it, was the monocle-man.

    Nothing But the Truth

    Frederic S. Isham

British Dictionary definitions for vis-a-vis

vis-à-vis

preposition
  1. in relation to; regarding
  2. face to face with; opposite
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adverb, adjective
  1. face to face; opposite
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noun plural vis-à-vis
  1. a person or thing that is situated opposite to another
  2. a person who corresponds to another in office, capacity, etc; counterpart
  3. an upholstered sofa; tête-à-tête
  4. a type of horse-drawn carriage in which the passengers sit opposite one another
  5. a coin having an obverse upon which two portraits appear facing each other
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Word Origin

C18: French, from vis face
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 vis-a-vis

1753, from French prepositional use of the adj. vis-à-vis "face to face," from Old French vis "face" (see visage).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
vis-a-vis in Culture

vis-à-vis

[(vee-zuh-vee)]

Relative to; compared with: “She performed well vis-à-vis the rest of the competitors.”

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.