Meanings
versus1
- Against; in opposition to.
It is the Packers versus the Steelers in the Super Bowl.
- Compared with, as opposed to.
If, for example, we select random people entering a workout gym, versus if we pick random people entering a hospital, we will get very different samples.
2005, Robert E. Weiss, Modeling Longitudinal Data, Springer, →ISBN, page 1041 more example
In polling by the Pew Research Center in November 2008, fully half the respondents thought the two parties would cooperate more in the coming year, versus only 36 percent who thought the climate would grow more adversarial.
2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times - Interacting with, especially to record reactions
- entertainmentIndicating one group or artist remixing another.
The Auteurs vs. μ-Ziq
versus2
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositionBringing a legal action against, as used in the title of a court case in which the first party indicates the plaintiff (or appellant or the like), and the second indicates the defendant (or respondent or the like).
Origin
versus · preposition
- Latinversus“facing”
- Middle Englishversus
- Englishversus
From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →versus · verb
- Latinversus“facing”
- Middle Englishversus
- Englishversus
From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فِي مُقَابِل, ضِِدَّ
- فِي مُقَابِل (fī muqābil)in opposition to
- ضِِدَّ (ḍiidda)in opposition to
- عَلَى اَلْعَكْس (ʕalā l-ʕaks)compared with
- ضِِدَّ (ḍiidda)compared with
Bulgarian срещу, в сравне́ние с
- срещу (sreštu)in opposition to
- в сравне́ние с (v sravnénie s)compared with
Catalan en contra, enfront de
- en contrain opposition to
- enfront dein opposition to
- en comparació ambcompared with
Chinese Cantonese 對 /对
- 對 /对 (deoi³)in opposition to
Chinese Mandarin 對 /对, 比……相對 /比……相对
- 對 /对 (duì)in opposition to
- 比……相對 /比……相对compared with
- 比……相对 (bǐ...xiāngduì)compared with
- 比……相比之下 (bǐ...xiāngbǐ zhī xià)compared with
- 與 /与 (yǔ)compared with
- 和 (hé)compared with
Czech versus, oproti
- versusin opposition to
- oprotiin opposition to
- srovnej scompared with
Danish mod, mod
- modin opposition to
- modcompared with
- over forcompared with
Dutch tegen
- tegenin opposition to
Esperanto kontraŭ, kontraŭ
- kontraŭin opposition to
- kontraŭcompared with
Finnish vastaan, versus
- vastaanin opposition to
- versusin opposition to
- verrattuna siihen, ettäcompared with
- versuscompared with
French contre, face à
- contrein opposition to
- face àin opposition to
- versusin opposition to
German gegen, im Gegensatz zu
- gegenin opposition to
- im Gegensatz zuin opposition to
- contrain opposition to
- gegenübercompared with
- vergleichecompared with
- vgl.compared with
- siehe auchcompared with
Greek κατά, βέρσους
- κατά (katá)in opposition to
- βέρσους (vérsous)in opposition to
- restcompared with
Hebrew נֶגֶד, לעומת
- נֶגֶד (néged)in opposition to
- לעומת (leʿumát)compared with
Hungarian kontra, (ezzel) szemben
- kontrain opposition to
- (ezzel) szembencompared with
- szemben azzalcompared with
- hacompared with
- hogy…compared with
Icelandic á móti, móti
- á mótiin opposition to
- mótiin opposition to
Irish in aghaidh
- in aghaidhin opposition to
Italian contro
- controin opposition to
Japanese 対, バーサス
- 対 (tai)in opposition to
- バーサス (bāsasu)in opposition to
Korean 대, 비하다
- 대 (dae)in opposition to
- 비하다 (bihada)compared with
Latin contrā
- contrāin opposition to
Latvian salīdzinot ar
- salīdzinot arcompared with
Malay lawan
- lawanin opposition to
Norwegian versus
- versusin opposition to
Polish kontra, versus
- kontrain opposition to
- versusin opposition to
- acompared with
Portuguese contra, vérsus
- contrain opposition to
- vérsusin opposition to
- contracompared with
Romanian contra, împotriva
- contrain opposition to
- împotrivain opposition to
Russian про́тив, в сравне́нии с
- про́тив (prótiv)in opposition to
- в сравне́нии с (v sravnénii s)compared with
- по сравне́нию с (po sravnéniju s)compared with
Spanish contra, en vez de
- contrain opposition to
- en vez dein opposition to
Swedish mot, kontra
- motin opposition to
- kontrain opposition to
- motcompared with
- jämförtcompared with
Urdu بمقابلہ, مقابلہ
- بمقابلہ (bamuqābila)in opposition to
- مقابلہ (bamuqābila)compared with
Vietnamese đối, đối đầu
- đốiin opposition to
- đối đầuin opposition to
- đấu vớiin opposition to
- kiệnin opposition to
- vàcompared with
Welsh yn erbyn, yn erbyn
- yn erbynin opposition to
- yn erbyncompared with
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with versus
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
versus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/versus
“versus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/versus. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “versus,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/versus.
Source: versus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.