conversant

comparative more conversant · superlative most conversant · alternative conversaunt

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.

   3 more examples

   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

   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. archaicConcerned; 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

   1 more example

   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

plural conversants · alternative conversaunt

1. One who converses with another.

   Synonyms: interlocutor, conversational partner