Vis-a-vis
adj, adv, noun, prep ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative spelling of vis-à-vis. alt-of, alternative
- 2 small sofa that seats two people wordnet
- 3 a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another wordnet
- 1 Alternative spelling of vis-à-vis. alt-of, alternative, not-comparable
- 1 Alternative spelling of vis-à-vis. alt-of, alternative, not-comparable
- 1 face-to-face with; literally ‘face to face’ wordnet
- 1 Alternative spelling of vis-à-vis. alt-of, alternative
"Nixon confirmed that the Chinese Communists at first demanded that throughout the communique Taiwan be referred to as "a province of China." He said he had demurred, insisting that the U.S. side could refer to Taiwan only as "a part of China." Nixon's reasoning was that being dubbed "a province of China" would place Taiwan immediately in a subordinate position vis-a-vis the People's Republic of China; whereas being labeled "a part of China" would give Taiwan, despite its smaller size, a higher status vis-a-vis the mainland. I could tell by listening to Nixon that he was very pleased with himself on this matter."
Example
More examples"Nixon confirmed that the Chinese Communists at first demanded that throughout the communique Taiwan be referred to as "a province of China." He said he had demurred, insisting that the U.S. side could refer to Taiwan only as "a part of China." Nixon's reasoning was that being dubbed "a province of China" would place Taiwan immediately in a subordinate position vis-a-vis the People's Republic of China; whereas being labeled "a part of China" would give Taiwan, despite its smaller size, a higher status vis-a-vis the mainland. I could tell by listening to Nixon that he was very pleased with himself on this matter."
More for "vis-a-vis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.