different between convivial vs companionable

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French convivial, from Latin conv?vium (“a feast”), combined form of con- (“together”) + v?v? (“to live”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?v?v.i.?l/

Adjective

convivial (comparative more convivial, superlative most convivial)

1. Having elements of a feast or of entertainment, especially when it comes to eating and drinking, with accompanying festivity
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 175):

     I put the chief of police behind the bar, instructed him in his duties, and we four convivial spirits sprawled along the counter drinking ale and telling yarns till cockcrow.

   Synonyms: festive, social, gay, jovial, merry

Translations

Related terms

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.vi.vjal/
• Homophones: conviviale, conviviales

Adjective

convivial (feminine singular conviviale, masculine plural conviviaux, feminine plural conviviales)

1. convivial
2. user-friendly

Further reading

• “convivial” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

companion +? -able

Adjective

companionable (comparative more companionable, superlative most companionable)

1. Having the characteristics of a worthy companion; friendly and sociable.

   • She returned presently, bringing a smoking basin and a basket of work; and, having placed the former on the hob, drew in her seat, evidently pleased to find me so companionable.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1910, Chapter V, p. 178, [1]

     I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

   • 1887, Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography, translated by John Addington Symonds, New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, Chapter CXXI, p. 240, [2]

     All the disagreeable circumstances of my prison had become, as it were, to me friendly and companionable; not one of them gave me annoyance.

   • 1908, G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1910, Chapter IX, p. 154, [3]

     Then he strolled back again, kicking his heels carelessly, and a companionable silence fell between the three men.

   • 1914, James Stephens, The Demi-Gods, New York: Macmillan, 1921, Book II, pp. 126-7, [4]

     They are a companionable food; they make a pleasant, crunching noise when they are bitten, and so, when one is eating carrots, one can listen to the sound of one's eating and make a story from it.

   • 1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, New York: Vintage, 2004, p. 100,

     Bottles of rye, purgative waters and eaux for every conceivable toilette made a companionable click in his worn carpet bag.

Derived terms

Translations