conversant
nounEtymology From Old French conversant, present participle of converser.
1
One who converses with another.
conversant
adjUK /kənˈvɜːsənt/ · US /kənˈvɝsənt/
Etymology From Old French conversant, present participle of converser.
1
Closely familiar; current; having frequent interaction.
- VVe (of all earthlings) are Gods vtmoſt ſubiects, the laſt (in a manner) that he bought to his obedience: ſhal we then forgette that vvee are any ſubiects of hys, becauſe (as amongſt his Angels) he is not viſibly conuerſant amongſt vs?1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 60, verso:
2
Familiar or acquainted by use or study; well-informed; versed.
- She is equally conversant with Shakespeare and the laws of physics.
- We ſee in all things how deſuetude do's contract and narrow our faculties, ſo that we may apprehend only thoſe things wherein we are converſant.1674, [Richard Allestree], “Of Boasting”, in The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC, page 168:
2 more examples
- c. 1694, John Dryden, letter to Mr. John Dennis deeply conversant in the Platonic philosophy
- 1720, Thomas Parnell, corrected by Alexander Pope, "Essay on Homer", published with Pope's translation of the Iliad He uses the different dialects […] as one who had been conversant with them all.
3
Archaic Concerned; occupied.
- If any think education, because it is conversant about children, to be but a private and domestick duty, he has been ignorantly bred himself.1651, Henry Wotton, A Philosophical Survey of Education:
- Their Ideas are perpetually converſant in Lines and Figures. If they would, for example, praiſe the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they deſcribe it by Rhombs, Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipſes, and other Geometrical Terms, or by Words of Art drawn from Muſick, needleſs here to repeat.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 26:
- Derived terms
- conversancy, conversantly, inconversant, nonconversant, unconversant