conversation

1. (fencing) The back-and-forth play of the blades in a bout.countableuncountable

2. (computing, networking) The protocol-based interaction between systems processing a transaction.countableuncountable

3. (obsolete) Interaction; commerce or intercourse with other people; dealing with others.Examples: "Yt chaunſed thatt a whole yere they had their converſacion with the congregacion there / and taught moche people in ſomoche thatt the diſciples off Antioche wer the fyrſt that wer called Chriſten."countableobsoleteuncountable

4. (archaic) Behaviour, the way one conducts oneself; a person's way of life.Examples: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."; "There are many that take no heed what happeneth to others by bad conversation, and therefore overthrow themselves in the same manner through their own fault, not foreseeing dangers manifest."; "I have desired him to inquire after Lovelace's life and conversation in town."archaiccountableuncountable

5. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.Examples: "criminal conversation"; "Ariadne[…]quitted her Lover Theseus, for the tumultuous Conversation of Bacchus."; "Our travellers had happened to take up their residence at a house of exceeding good repute, whither Irish ladies of strict virtue, and many northern lasses of the same predicament, were accustomed to resort in their way to Bath. The landlady therefore would by no means have admitted any conversation of a disreputable kind to pass under her roof. Indeed, so foul and contagious are all such proceedings, that they contaminate the very innocent scenes where they are committed, and give the name of a bad house, or of a house of ill repute, to all those where they are suffered to be carried on."Synonyms: aphrodisia, carnal knowledge, coitus, coition, commerce, commixtion, congress, conjunctioncountableobsoleteuncountable

6. (obsolete) Engagement with a specific subject, idea, field of study etc.Examples: "So grosse is our conuersation, and dull is our apprehension: while mortall Sense, in vs, ruleth the common wealth of our litle world."Synonyms: understanding, familiaritycountableobsoleteuncountable