make conversation

present singular third person makes conversation · participle present making conversation · participle past made conversation · past made conversation

1. To talk with someone out of courtesy, to pass time, or in an effort to engage with them socially.

   Lee felt that disaster lurked ahead, and he did his best to stave it off by making conversation.

   1923, Max Brand, chapter 18, in The Quest of Lee Garrison, New York: Leisure Books, published 1999, page 135

   3 more examples

   They had their meals with Mr. Gibson and Molly, and were felt to be terribly in the way; Mr. Gibson not being a man who could make conversation, and hating the duty of talking under restraint.

   1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 3, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC

   […] mechanically like a hostess whose mind is elsewhere but who must make conversation with however uninteresting a guest, she said, ‘Pretty girl, jig jig, one pound.’

   1948, Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter, London: Heinemann, Part Two, Chapter 1, section 3, p. 208

   One day, when a neighbour called and sat in the kitchen with them having tea, Eilis realized that her mother and Rose were doing everything to hide their feelings. The neighbour, almost casually, as a way of making conversation, said: “You’ll miss her when she's gone, I'd say.”

   2009, Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn, New York: Scribner, published 2015, page 30