versus
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈvɜːsəs/, /ˈvɜːsɪz/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈvɝsəs/, /ˈvɝsəz/, /ˈvɝs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)səs
Audio (UK) (file) - Homophone: verses
Preposition edit
versus
- Against; in opposition to.
- Compared with, as opposed to.
- 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times[1]:
- 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.
- (law) Bringing 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).
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
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Further reading edit
Finnish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Preposition edit
versus (+ nominative)
Further reading edit
- “versus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Preposition edit
versus
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin versus. Doublet of verso, which is inherited.
Preposition edit
versus
Latin edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈu̯er.sus/, [ˈu̯ɛrs̠ʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈver.sus/, [ˈvɛrsus]
Etymology 1 edit
From earlier vorsus, from Proto-Italic *worssos, perfect passive participle of vertō (“to turn”).
Alternative forms edit
Participle edit
versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle
Declension edit
First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | versus | versa | versum | versī | versae | versa | |
Genitive | versī | versae | versī | versōrum | versārum | versōrum | |
Dative | versō | versō | versīs | ||||
Accusative | versum | versam | versum | versōs | versās | versa | |
Ablative | versō | versā | versō | versīs | |||
Vocative | verse | versa | versum | versī | versae | versa |
Derived terms edit
Etymology 2 edit
Adverbial use of versus (“turned”).
Alternative forms edit
Adverb edit
versus (not comparable)
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Etymology 3 edit
Action noun from vertō + -tus.
Alternative forms edit
Noun edit
versus m (genitive versūs); fourth declension
- a furrow (turned earth)
- (transf.) a line, row
- (partic.) a line of writing, a verse
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6.14:
- Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur.
- They are said to learn by heart a great number of verses there.
- Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur.
- (partic.) a line of writing, a verse
- a land measure (= πλέθρον (pléthron))
- 1st century BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, Rerum rusticarum libri III (Agricultural Topics in Three Books). Liber I, X:
- Ille, Modos, quibus metirentur rura, alius alios constituit. Nam in Hispania ulteriore metiuntur iugis, in Campania versibus, apud nos in agro Romano ac Latino iugeris. Iugum vocant, quod iuncti boves uno die exarare possint.
- Each country has its own method of measuring land. Thus in farther Spain the unit of measure is the iugum, in Campania the versus, with us here in the district of Rome and in Latium the iugerum. The iugum is the amount of land which a yoke of oxen can plough in a day; the versus is an area 100 feet square; 2 the iugerum an area containing two square actus.
- Ille, Modos, quibus metirentur rura, alius alios constituit. Nam in Hispania ulteriore metiuntur iugis, in Campania versibus, apud nos in agro Romano ac Latino iugeris. Iugum vocant, quod iuncti boves uno die exarare possint.
- (dance) a turn, step
Declension edit
Fourth-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | versus | versūs |
Genitive | versūs | versuum |
Dative | versuī | versibus |
Accusative | versum | versūs |
Ablative | versū | versibus |
Vocative | versus | versūs |
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
- Catalan: vers
- Corsican: versu
- French: vers
- Friulian: viers
- Italian: verso
- Occitan: vers
- Old Galician-Portuguese: vesso
- Old Spanish: viesso
- Piedmontese: vers
- Romanian: viers
- Sardinian: bessu
- → Albanian: vjershë
- → English: verse
- → Portuguese: verso
- → Serbo-Croatian: vȅrs/ве̏рс
- → Spanish: verso
- → Swedish: vers
- → Welsh: gwers
Etymology 4 edit
Perfect passive participle of verrō (“to sweep”).
Participle edit
versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle
Declension edit
First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | versus | versa | versum | versī | versae | versa | |
Genitive | versī | versae | versī | versōrum | versārum | versōrum | |
Dative | versō | versō | versīs | ||||
Accusative | versum | versam | versum | versōs | versās | versa | |
Ablative | versō | versā | versō | versīs | |||
Vocative | verse | versa | versum | versī | versae | versa |
References edit
- “versus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “versus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- versus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- versus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to sing the praises of some one (not canere aliquem: alicuius laudes versibus persequi
- to celebrate some one's exploits in song: alicuius res gestas versibus ornare, celebrare
- (ambiguous) in all directions: quoquo versus; in omnes partes
- (ambiguous) to advance in the direction of Rome: Romam versus proficisci
- (ambiguous) to write poetry: versus facere, scribere
- (ambiguous) to write poetry with facility: carmina , versus fundere (De Or. 3. 50)
- (ambiguous) to recite a poem, line with appropriate action: carmen, versum agere
- to sing the praises of some one (not canere aliquem: alicuius laudes versibus persequi
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “vĕrsus”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 705
Anagrams edit
Polish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from Latin versus.
Pronunciation edit
Preposition edit
versus
Further reading edit
- versus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese edit
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: ver‧sus
Preposition edit
versus
- Alternative spelling of vérsus
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from English versus,[1] from Latin versus. Doublet of verso.
Pronunciation edit
Preposition edit
versus
- versus
- Esta noche transmitiremos a Alberto del Río versus John Cena en vivo.
- Tonight, we'll be broadcasting Alberto del Rio versus John Cena live.
Usage notes edit
- This word is sometimes frowned upon as an anglicism, with the suggestion that contra or the conjunction y should be used instead.
References edit
- ^ “versus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Further reading edit
- “versus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014