vis-à-vis

• vis-a-vis

Unadapted borrowing from French vis-à-vis.

• (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)

vis-à-vis

1. In relation to; compared with.

   Canada's role vis-à-vis the United States' in Afghanistan

   • 2000, David Golinkin, “Returning Territories for the Sake of Peace”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 3, page 32:

     Bet She'an, Bet Guvrin and Kefar Zemah were originally considered part of Eretz Yisrael vis-à-vis tithing, but Rabbi Judah the Prince excluded them from Eretz Yisrael when the Jewish population shrank.

   • 2015 July 16, “Small ncRNA Expression-Profiling of Blood from Hemophilia A Patients Identifies miR-1246 as a Potential Regulator of Factor 8 Gene”, in PLOS ONE‎^[1], →DOI:

     We have identified an miR-1246 target site in the noncoding region of F8 mRNA and were able to confirm the suppressory role of hsa-miR-1246 on F8 expression in a stable lymphoblastoid cell line expressing FVIII. These findings suggest several testable hypotheses vis-à-vis the role of nc-RNAs in the regulation of F8 expression.

2. Opposite; across from; set so as to be facing.

   He was seated vis-à-vis the president.

vis-à-vis (plural vis-à-vis)

1. (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

2. A sofa with seats for two people, so arranged that the occupants are face to face while sitting on opposite sides.
3. 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.

4. 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.

5. A person holding a corresponding position in another organisation.

   Synonym: counterpart

   I talked with my vis-à-vis in the French embassy.

vis-à-vis (not comparable)

1. Face-to-face.
2. (numismatics, of a coin) Having two portraits facing each other.

vis-à-vis (not comparable)

1. Face to face (with another).
   • 1883, William Wallace Cook, “Aquastor”, in Overland Monthly‎^[2], page 14:

     […] turning the seat in front so we could sit vis-a-vis

   • 1989 February 12, Ann Allen Shockley, “A Posthumous Letter To Joseph Beam”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 30, page 6:

     I never had the opportunity to meet you vis-a-vis, but your correspondence exuded your dedication, your defying spirit, your warmth, and your literary goals.

2. (archaic) In a position facing a specified or implied subject.

• Vis-à-vis (carriage) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

vis-à-vis

1. alternative spelling of vis-a-vis

From vis +‎ à +‎ vis, vis m being an obsolete word for “face”, replaced in Modern French by visage m.

• IPA^(key): /vi.za.vi/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

vis-à-vis

1. (archaic) Facing, face-to-face

   Synonym: face à face

vis-à-vis m (invariable)

1. a meeting, especially a private one

   Synonym: tête-à-tête m

2. a position where two things face each other

   Les maisons sont en vis-à-vis.

   The houses face each other.

3. an equivalent

   Synonym: homologue m or f by sense

   • 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"?

4. a counterpart on the opposing side, interlocutor, negotiation partner
   • 2026 January 31, Jeffrey Gettleman, Maya Tekeli, “Groenland: La femme qui tient tête à Donald Trump”, in La Presse‎^[3]:

     Alors que les négociations se poursuivent, Mme Frederiksen s’efforce de convaincre son imprévisible vis-à-vis que la réponse à son vœu d’intégrer le Groenland au territoire américain est un non sans équivoque, sans pour autant se le mettre à dos au point qu’il menace à nouveau de s’en emparer.

     As negotiations continue, Ms. Frederiksen is doing her best to convince her unpredictable interlocutor that the answer to his wish to annex Greenland as American territory is an unequivocal no, without angering him to the point that he starts threatening to take it again.

5. (rare) What faces someone or something, such as a view or the person seated in front
6. (historical) a type of S-shaped couch or sofa that allows people to be seated face-to-face

• vis-à-vis de

• → Danish: vis-a-vis
• → English: vis-à-vis
• → German: vis-à-vis
• → Swedish: visavi

• “vis-à-vis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• vis-a-vis

Unadapted borrowing from French vis-à-vis.

• IPA^(key): /vizaˈviː/ (Germany)

  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /visaˈviː/, [z̥a-] (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)

vis-à-vis [with dative]

1. (literary, dated outside Austria and 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)

• “vis-à-vis” in Duden online
• “vis-à-vis” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Unadapted borrowing from French vis-à-vis.

vis-à-vis

1. vis-à-vis, face to face

   Synonym: berhadap-hadapan

vis-à-vis

1. vis-à-vis, in relation to

   Synonym: terhadap

2. about

   Synonym: mengenai

• “vis-à-vis”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Unadapted borrowing from French vis-à-vis.

• IPA^(key): /viˈza.vi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -avi
• Syllabification: vis-‧à-‧vis

vis-à-vis (+ genitive)

1. opposite (across from)

   Synonyms: naprzeciw, naprzeciwko

• vis-à-vis in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• vis-à-vis in Polish dictionaries at PWN