versus

See also: Versus, vérsus, verŝus, and vēršus

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).

Pronunciation

• (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

versus

1. Against; in opposition to.

   Synonyms: vs, vs., (abbreviations) v

   It is the Packers versus the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

2. 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.

   • 2005, Robert E. Weiss, Modeling Longitudinal Data, Springer, →ISBN, page 104:

     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.

3. (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).

   Synonyms: v, (abbreviation) v.

   Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.

4. Interacting with, especially to record reactions
5. (music) Mashed up with.

   Kiss Me Thru The Phone vs. Last Friday Night

Derived terms

• graft-versus-host disease
• man versus time
• nature versus nurture
• offer versus serve
• player versus environment
• player versus player
• punctus versus
• save versus
• us versus them

 

Related terms

• convert
• evert
• invert
• subvert
• verse
• vertex

 

Translations

in opposition to

• Arabic: فِي مُقَابِل (fī muqābil), ضِِدَّ (ḍiidda)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: су́праць (súpracʹ)
• Bulgarian: срещу (bg) (sreštu)
• Catalan: en contra, enfront de
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 對 / 对 (deoi³)

  Mandarin: 對 / 对 (zh) (duì)

• Czech: versus (cs), oproti (cs)
• Dutch: tegen (nl)
• Esperanto: kontraŭ (eo)
• Finnish: vastaan (fi), versus (fi)
• French: contre (fr), face à (fr)
• Georgian: წინააღმდეგ (c̣inaaɣmdeg)
• German: gegen (de), im Gegensatz zu m, contra (de)
• Greek: κατά (el) (katá)
• Hebrew: נֶגֶד (he) (néged)
• Hungarian: kontra (hu)
• Icelandic: á móti (is), móti
• Ido: kontre (io)
• Irish: in aghaidh
• Italian: contro (it)
• Japanese: 対 (ja) (たい, tai), バーサス (bāsasu)
• Khmer: ទល់នឹង (tŭəlnɨng)
• Korean: 대 (ko) (dae)
• Latin: contrā (la)
• Malay: lawan (ms)
• Norwegian: versus
• Polish: kontra (pl), versus (pl)
• Portuguese: contra (pt), vérsus
• Romanian: contra (ro), împotriva (ro)
• Russian: про́тив (ru) (prótiv)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: nasprotiv, protiv (sh)

• Slovene: proti (sl)
• Spanish: contra (es), en vez de
• Swedish: mot (sv), kontra (rare)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: ཁ་གཏད་དུ (kha gtad du), འགལ་ཟླར ('gal zlar)
• Urdu: بمقابلہ (bamuqābila)
• Vietnamese: đối (vi), đối đầu (vi), đấu với

compared with

• Arabic: عَلَى اَلْعَكْس (ʕalā l-ʕaks), ضِِدَّ (ḍiidda)
• Bulgarian: в сравне́ние с (v sravnénie s)
• Catalan: en comparació amb
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 比……相對 / 比……相对, 比……相对 (bǐ...xiāngduì), 比……相比之下 (bǐ...xiāngbǐ zhī xià), 與 / 与 (zh) (yǔ), 和 (zh) (hé)

• Czech: srovnej s
• Esperanto: kontraŭ (eo)
• Finnish: verrattuna siihen, että (fi), versus (fi)
• Georgian: შედარებით (šedarebit)
• German: gegenüber (de), vergleiche (de), vgl. (de), siehe auch (de)
• Greek: see: σχέση (el) f (schési)
• Hebrew: לעומת (leʿumát)
• Hungarian: (ezzel) szemben; szemben azzal, ha/hogy… (hu)
• Latvian: salīdzinot ar
• Polish: a (pl)
• Portuguese: contra (pt)
• Russian: в сравне́нии с (v sravnénii s), по сравне́нию с (ru) (po sravnéniju s)
• Swedish: mot (sv), jämfört (sv)
• Tibetan: གཞན་ལས (gzhan las)
• Urdu: مقابلہ (bamuqābila)
• Vietnamese: và (vi)

Etymology 2

From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝs/
• Homophone: verse

Verb

versus (third-person singular simple present versuses, present participle versusing, simple past and past participle versused)

(colloquial)

1. To face in competition
2. To fight

Further reading

• versus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Finnish

Etymology

Latin versus

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋersus/, [ˈʋe̞rs̠us̠]
• Rhymes: -ersus
• Hyphenation^(key): ver‧sus

Preposition

versus [with nominative]

1. versus

   Synonym: vastaan

Further reading

• “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

Etymology

From Latin versus. Doublet of vers.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.sys/
• Rhymes: -ys

Preposition

versus

1. versus, full form of vs

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin versus. Doublet of verso, which is inherited.

Preposition

versus

1. versus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯er.sus/, [ˈu̯ɛrs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈver.sus/, [ˈvɛrsus]

Etymology 1

From earlier vorsus, from Proto-Italic *worssos, perfect passive participle of vertō (“to turn”).

Alternative forms

• vorsus

Participle

versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle

1. turned, changed, having been turned

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	versus	versa	versum		versī	versae	versa
genitive	versī	versae	versī		versōrum	versārum	versōrum
dative	versō	versae	versō		versīs
accusative	versum	versam	versum		versōs	versās	versa
ablative	versō	versā	versō		versīs
vocative	verse	versa	versum		versī	versae	versa

Derived terms

• anniversārius
• contrōversus
• prōrsus/ prōsus/ prōsa
• ūniversus

Etymology 2

Adverbial use of versus (“turned”).

Alternative forms

• versum
• vorsum
• vorsus

Adverb

versus (not comparable)

1. towards, turned to or in the direction of, facing

Derived terms

• aliorsus/aliorsum
• deorsus/deorsum
• extrorsus
• intrōversus/introrsus
• prorsus/prorsum
• quōquōversus
• quorsus/quorsum
• retrōversus/ retrorsus
• rursus/rursum
• sursus/sursum

Descendants

• Catalan: bes, ves, vers
• Corsican: versu
• French: vers
• Italian: verso
• Occitan: ves
• Old Galician-Portuguese: vesso
• Old Spanish: vieso
• Sicilian: versu
• → English: versus, verso
• → French: versus
• → Italian: versus
• → Portuguese: versus
• → Sicilian: versus

Etymology 3

Action noun from vertō + -tus.

Alternative forms

• vorsus

Noun

versus m (genitive versūs); fourth declension

1. a furrow (turned earth)
2. (transf.) a line, row
   2. (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.

3. 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.

4. (dance) a turn, step

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	versus	versūs
genitive	versūs	versuum
dative	versuī	versibus
accusative	versum	versūs
ablative	versū	versibus
vocative	versus	versūs

Derived terms

• versiculus
• versificō

Descendants

• 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
• → Polish: wiersz
  • → Belarusian: верш (vjerš)
  • → Ukrainian: вірш (virš)
• → Portuguese: verso
• → Serbo-Croatian: vȅrs/ве̏рс
• → Spanish: verso
• → Swedish: vers
• → Welsh: gwers

Etymology 4

Perfect passive participle of verrō (“to sweep”).

Participle

versus (feminine versa, neuter versum); first/second-declension participle

1. swept

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	versus	versa	versum		versī	versae	versa
genitive	versī	versae	versī		versōrum	versārum	versōrum
dative	versō	versae	versō		versīs
accusative	versum	versam	versum		versōs	versās	versa
ablative	versō	versā	versō		versīs
vocative	verse	versa	versum		versī	versae	versa

References

• “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
    
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “vĕrsus”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 705

Anagrams

• servus

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin versus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛr.sus/
• Rhymes: -ɛrsus
• Syllabification: ver‧sus

Preposition

versus

1. versus (in opposition to)

   Synonym: kontra

Further reading

• versus in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛʁ.sus/ [ˈvɛh.sus]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛʁ.sus/ [ˈvɛh.sus]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɾ.sus/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛʁ.suʃ/ [ˈvɛχ.suʃ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɻ.sus/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɾ.suʃ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɾ.suʃ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɾ.suʃ/

• Hyphenation: ver‧sus

Preposition

versus

1. Alternative spelling of vérsus

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English versus, from Latin versus. Doublet of verso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɾsus/ [ˈbeɾ.sus]
• Rhymes: -eɾsus
• Syllabification: ver‧sus

Preposition

versus

1. 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

• This word is sometimes frowned upon as an anglicism, with the suggestion that contra or the conjunction y should be used instead.

Further reading

• “versus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10