# conversant
## English
### Alternative forms

* conversaunt (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Old French conversant, present participle of converser.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /kənˈvɜːsənt/
* (US) IPA: /kənˈvɝsənt/
* (obsolete) IPA: /ˈkɒnvə(ɹ)sænt/, /ˈkɒnvə(ɹ)sənt/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Adjective

conversant (comparative more conversant, superlative most conversant)
* Closely familiar; current; having frequent interaction.
** 1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 60, verso: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?
* Familiar or acquainted by use or study; well-informed; versed.
    She is equally conversant with Shakespeare and the laws of physics.
** 1674, [Richard Allestree], “Of Boasting”, in The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC, page 168: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.
** 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.
* (archaic) Concerned; occupied.
** 1651, Henry Wotton, A Philosophical Survey of Education:If any think education, because it is conversant about children, to be but a private and domestick duty, he has been ignorantly bred himself.
** 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: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.

#### Usage notes

* Generally used with with, sometimes with in.

#### Derived terms

* conversancy
* conversantly
* inconversant
* nonconversant
* unconversant

#### Translations
### Noun

conversant (plural conversants)
* One who converses with another.

### References

* ↑ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 5.64, page 169.

### Anagrams

* conservant

## Catalan
### Verb

conversant
* gerund of conversar

## French
### Participle

conversant
* present participle of converser

### Further reading

* “conversant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* conservant

## Latin
### Verb

conversant
* third-person plural present active indicative of conversō