Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An informal discussion or chat, especially of an intellectual nature.
  • noun A short conversational piece of writing or criticism.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Chat; familiar conversation; informal talk; free and unconventional discussion and criticism, such as the Causeries du lundi (“Monday Chats”) of the French critic and essayist Sainte-Beuve (1804–69). See Sainte-Beuve in the Century Cyclopedia of Names.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Informal talk or discussion, as about literary matters; light conversation; chat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An informal conversation, or casual short written article, especially on a serious topic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun light informal conversation for social occasions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from causer, to talk, from Latin causārī, to plead, discuss, from causa, case, cause.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French causerie.

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Examples

  • It was their custom to meet once a week, at the house of one or another, for a "causerie," as the avocat called it.

    When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Volume 1. Gilbert Parker 1897

  • It was their custom to meet once a week, at the house of one or another, for a "causerie," as the avocat called it.

    The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897

  • It was their custom to meet once a week, at the house of one or another, for a "causerie," as the avocat called it.

    When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete Gilbert Parker 1897

  • "causerie" which meditates more broadly on the novelist's life, and on his relations with contemporary writers.

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

  • A.J. P. Taylor's causerie on Irish history, "A Very Special Case" [NYR, J.ly 28], is an indication that Englishmen should not write on Irish subjects because of an.

    Irish History Branigan, J.F. 1966

  • As in time it did not die away, but began to get a little more heated (one voice appearing to be raised in entreaty and the other, Elizabeth's, in protest), I thought I had better saunter out and interrupt the causerie.

    Our Elizabeth A Humour Novel

  • Early in the seventeenth century the/causerie/(chat) was highly esteemed in France.

    Book of Etiquette, Volume 2 Lillian Eichler Watson

  • This work is a literary _causerie_ inspired in part by the reading of Alexandrian criticism, but in larger part by experience.

    Horace and His Influence Grant Showerman

  • It was, furthermore, extremely bright, everybody was out in the open, and although the amateurs had come prepared for a momentary brush with a bowel or two, they had no reason to expect a prolonged causerie upon even more intimate matters.

    Tutors' Lane 1937

  • "There was a spirit of literature in the air" says Mr. Benjamin Sulte writing of these times, "and this came not only by reading but by the more important practice of conversation and 'causerie de salon' which is so thoroughly French."

    Canadian Cities of Romance 1922

Comments

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  • It's offhanded chat, supposedly,

    But prose hides a lot that’s poesy.

    Concealing the art

    Is a critical part

    Of successfully practicing causerie.

    May 15, 2015