Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: Latin conversatio, from conversari; CONVERSE1

conversation

 noun
     
con‧ver‧sa‧tion S1 W2
[uncountable and countable] an informal talk in which people exchange news, feelings, and thoughtsCOLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
have/hold a conversation (with somebody) carry on a conversation (with somebody) (=have a conversation) get into (a) conversation (with somebody) (=start having a conversation) make (polite) conversation (with somebody) (=talk to someone in order to be polite) engage somebody in conversation (a) conversation turns to something (=people start talking about something) deep in conversation (=very involved in conversation) snatches of conversation (=small parts of a conversation) topic of conversation a private conversation
a telephone conversation
Children quickly get bored by adult conversation.
conversation with
a short conversation with the teacher
conversation about
a conversation about family and friends
They had a short conversation in German and seemed to be disagreeing about something.
It's impossible to carry on a conversation with all this noise in the background.
'Did you have a good journey?' he said, trying to make conversation.
He was silent, no matter how hard Sofia tried to engage him in conversation.
After a while, the conversation turned to a friend's coming wedding.
They were deep in conversation, relaxed and smiling.
He could hear snatches of conversation from across the room.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary