Conversational

How to spell conversational

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce conversational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conversational mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or suited to informal spoken exchange; relaxed and informal in tone.

Conversational in a sentence

• The report was written in a plain, conversational style that anyone could follow.

• After a few lessons she reached a conversational level of Spanish.

Where does conversational come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word reaches back to the Latin verb conversari, meaning 'to keep company with' or, quite literally, 'to turn oneself about among others'. It is built from con- ('together') and versare ('to turn frequently'), itself from vertere ('to turn'), so the original image is of people turning toward one another in social life. The related noun conversation entered English through Old French in the 1300s, at first meaning the whole business of living among and dealing with other people, and only later narrowing to spoken exchange of words. The adjective conversational was then formed in English in the 1700s by adding -al to conversation, to describe a manner of talking that is relaxed and informal. The same vertere root that means 'to turn' also gives us 'reverse', 'version' and 'convert', which is a useful reminder that the spelling carries 'vers' in the middle, not 'verce' or 'verse'.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• vers (turn, from Latin vertere 'to turn')
• -ation (noun-forming)
• -al (adjective suffix)