vis-à-vis
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /viːz.ɑːˈviː/, /viːz.æˈviː/
- (US) IPA(key): /viz.ɑˈvi/, /viz.əˈvi/
- (Canada) IPA(key): /viz.əˈvi/
,Audio (US): (file) Audio (US): (file)
Preposition
[edit]vis-à-vis
- In relation to; compared with.
- Canada's role vis-à-vis the United States' in Afghanistan
- Opposite; across from; set so as to be facing.
- He was seated vis-à-vis the president.
Translations
[edit]in relation to
|
opposite
|
Noun
[edit]- (historical) A small horse-drawn carriage for two people sitting facing each other.
- 1761, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume 3, Penguin, published 2003, page 188:
- there is not a greater difference between a single-horse chair and madam Pompadour’s vis a vis, than betwixt a single amour, and an amour thus nobly doubled
- A sofa with seats for two people, so arranged that the occupants are face to face while sitting on opposite sides.
- One of two (or more) people facing or opposite each other.
- 1933, Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, Penguin, published 2005, page 456:
- But the wrath that I awaited did not descend. Instead, my young vis-à-vis merely looked melancholy.
- A date or escort in a social event.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Daughter of the Regiment”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 136:
- That was what Miss McKenna said, and the Sergeant who was my vis-à-vis looked the same thing.
- A person holding a corresponding position in another organisation.
- Synonym: counterpart
- I talked with my vis-à-vis in the French embassy.
Translations
[edit]carriage for two
person facing another
date
|
counterpart — see counterpart
Adjective
[edit]vis-à-vis (not comparable)
- Face-to-face.
- (numismatics, of a coin) Having two portraits facing each other.
Translations
[edit]face-to-face — see face-to-face
Adverb
[edit]vis-à-vis (not comparable)
- Face to face (with another).
- 1883, William Wallace Cook, “Aquastor”, in Overland Monthly[1], page 14:
- […] turning the seat in front so we could sit vis-a-vis
- (archaic) In a position facing a specified or implied subject.
Translations
[edit]face to face
|
Further reading
[edit]Vis-à-vis (carriage) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Danish
[edit]Adverb
[edit]vis-à-vis
- Alternative spelling of vis-a-vis
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From vis + à + vis, vis being an obsolete word for “face”, replaced in Modern French by visage.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adverb
[edit]- (archaic) Facing, face-to-face
- Synonym: face à face
Noun
[edit]vis-à-vis m (plural vis-à-vis)
- a meeting, especially a private one
- Synonym: tête-à-tête
- a position where two things face each other
- Les maisons sont en vis-à-vis.
- The houses face each other.
- an equivalent
- Synonym: homologue
- 1886, Auguste de Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, L'Ève future, XVII. Dissection
- Quoi de plus attristant, de plus dissolvant que l’abominable être qu’on nomme une « femme d’esprit », si ce n’est son vis-à-vis, le beau parleur ?
- What is worse, more dissolving than this abomination called the "spiritual woman", if not its equivalent, the "beau parleur"?
- (rare) What faces someone or something, such as a view or the person seated in front
- (historical) a type of S-shaped couch or sofa that allows people to be seated face-to-face
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “vis-à-vis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from French vis-à-vis (“face-to-face”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Preposition
[edit]vis-à-vis [with dative]
- (literary, dated outside Switzerland) vis-à-vis
- Synonym: gegenüber
- 2002, “Hi Freaks”, in Tocotronic, performed by Tocotronic:
- Hi freaks look at me / Autogramme vis-à-vis / Gegenüber einer Welt / Deren Umriss uns gefällt / Das Geld steht schon bereit / Hast du morgen Zeit
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Further reading
[edit]Polish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from French vis-à-vis.
Pronunciation
[edit]Preposition
[edit]vis-à-vis (+ genitive)
- opposite (across from)
- Synonyms: naprzeciw, naprzeciwko
Further reading
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