The Meaning of Vice Versa: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of vice versa? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word vice versa, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the term vice versa mean?

According to Collins English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, the term vice versa is an adverb or adverbial phrase that means in the opposite order, alternate order or reverse order. This device is commonly used with the conjunctions “and” and “or” following the main items which will be put the wrong way from the preceding statement. The pronunciation of vice versa is ˈvaɪsɪ ˈvɜːsə. 

There are many different languages that have their own translations of vice versa. You may notice that many of these translations of vice versa look and sound similar to the phrase vice versa. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that retain a similar look, sound and meaning. These are often formed when two words have the same root or language of origin. This list of translations of the phrase vice versa is provided by Word Sense.

  •  Galician: viceversa‎
  •  German: umgekehrt‎, andersherum‎, andersrum‎, und umgekehrt‎, und umgedreht‎, vice versa‎
  •  Swedish: vice versa‎
  •  Vietnamese: ngược lại‎
  •  Finnish: päinvastoin‎, toisinpäin‎, toistepäin‎
  •  Romanian: vice versa‎
  •  Dutch: vice versa‎, omgekeerd‎
  •  French: vice versa‎
  •  Turkish: tam tersi‎
  •  Belarusian: наадварот‎ (naadvarot)
  •  Spanish: viceversa‎, contrariamente‎
  •  Italian: viceversa‎
  •  Indonesian: juga sebaliknya‎
  •  Portuguese: vice versa‎, vice-versa‎
  •  Tamil: முற்றிலும் எதிர்த்திசையில்‎ (முற்றிலும் எதிர்த்திசையில்)
  •  Estonian: vastupidi‎, ümberpöördult‎
  •  Interlingua: vice versa‎
  •  Russian: наоборо́т‎
  •  Lojban: (“and viceversa”) soi vo’a‎
  •  Mandarin: 反之亦然‎ (fǎnzhīyìrán)
  •  Japanese: 逆‎, 反対‎
  •  Catalan: viceversa‎
  •  Persian: برعکس‎ (bar’aks), بالعکس‎ (bel’aks)
  •  Arabic: الْعَكْس بِالْعَكْس‎, الْعَكْس صَحِيح‎
  •  Bashkir: киреһенсә‎

What is the origin of the phrase vice versa?

According to Etymonline, such phrase has been used since c17. This Latin phrase comes from vice, the ablative alteration/ablative of vicis change. This is the affixed to versā, the feminine perfect passive participle of versus, which is the past participle of vertere. These come from the PIE root weik and wer. Related words include virtue.

How can the term vice versa be used in a sentence?

There are many different ways that the term vice versa can be used in the English language to talk about various different topics. Creating and reading example sentences is a great way to incorporate new words and phrases into your vocabulary. You can also try to make flashcards or quizzes in order to test your knowledge of the definitions of various different words. Try using this new phrase of the day in a sentence today! Below are several different examples of the phrase vice versa to help get you started. 

Mankind saw the evil behind the prince’s notions and vice versa – he could tell that they were after his own crown and wished to overthrow his right to the throne. They wanted to teach the evil, snobby prince a lesson. 

He traded DVDs for his cousin’s VHS tapes and vice versa. He only had a VHS player and his cousin only had a DVD player, so now they were both able to watch content.

The arch-priests received penance and the letter of a jesuited gentleman and vice versa. 

What are synonyms and antonyms of vice versa?

There are many different words and phrases that are synonyms of vice. Synonyms are words and phrases that have the same meaning or definition as another given word or phrase. Learning synonyms is a great way to expand your English language vocabulary and avoid repeating yourself in written and spoken English. This list of synonyms for the phrase vice versa is provided by Power Thesaurus.

  •  contra
  •  au contraire
  •  nay rather
  •  opposingly
  •  other hand
  •  inverted
  •  contrastingly
  •  inversely
  •  as a substitute
  •  inverse
  •  contrastively
  •  in a different manner
  •  then again
  •  conflictingly
  •  unorthodoxly
  •  as well
  •  poles apart
  •  additionally
  •  acrimoniously
  •  hostilely
  •  opposite way
  •  discordantly
  •  reverse
  •  abnormally
  •  about-face
  •  upside down
  •  across
  •  nonconformably
  •  inside out
  •  mutatis mutandis
  •  differently
  •  counter
  •  dissimilarly
  •  tout au contraire
  •  asymmetrically
  •  at the same time
  •  antagonistically
  •  other side of coin
  •  opposite
  •  backward
  •  against
  •  all backwards
  •  variously
  •  reciprocally
  •  negatively
  •  contradictorily
  •  reversed
  •  in reverse
  •  alternately
  •  antipole
  •  contrariwise
  •  oppositely
  •  vise versa
  •  the contrary
  •  visa versa
  •  other way around
  •  no such thing
  •  topsy-turvy
  •  diversely
  •  incompatibly
  •  again
  •  unequally
  •  rather
  •  in addition
  •  in contrast
  •  conversely
  •  disparately
  •  another adverse
  •  backwards
  •  other way round
  •  fro
  •  bottom up
  •  without order
  •  just the opposite
  •  upside-down
  •  contrary
  •  by contrast
  •  all the same
  •  antipodally
  •  contrarily
  •  far from it
  •  on contrary
  •  quite the contrary
  •  mutually
  •  interchangeably
  •  in reverse order
  •  in turn
  •  other side
  •  antilogy
  •  divergently
  •  antithetically
  •  on the contrary
  •  reversely
  •  per contra
  •  adversely
  •  on the other hand
  •  contraria
  •  other extreme

There are also numerous different words that mean the opposite of vice versa. These opposite words are called antonyms, which are also a great way to expand your English language vocabulary. This list of antonyms of vice versa is also provided by Power Thesaurus.

  •  in like manner
  •  together
  •  analogously
  •  equally
  •  corresponding
  •  same way
  •  as demonstrated
  •  similarly
  •  as noted
  •  equally true
  •  in a similar way
  •  in common
  •  closely
  •  in accordance with
  •  equivalent
  •  equal
  •  indistinguishably
  •  as illustrated
  •  equivalently
  •  consonantly
  •  equally likely
  •  uniformly
  •  in the same way
  •  comparably
  •  likewise
  •  by the same token
  •  mutually
  •  as indicated
  •  evenly
  •  accordingly
  •  in line
  •  in similar fashion
  •  identically
  •  akin
  •  as evidenced
  •  alike
  •  same
  •  consistent
  •  in parallel
  •  homogeneously
  •  as shown
  •  also
  •  consistently
  •  in the same manner
  •  like
  •  similar
  •  in conjunction
  •  equally valid
  •  correspondingly
  •  as mentioned

Overall, the word vice versa means the reverse of or the opposite of. This phrase originally comes from the Latin vice versa. 

Sources:

  1. Vice versa definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
  2. vice versa | Origin and meaning of phrase vice versa | Online Etymology Dictionary 
  3. Vice Versa synonyms – 310 Words and Phrases for Vice Versa | Power Thesaurus 
  4. Vice Versa antonyms – 176 Opposites of Vice Versa | Power Thesaurus 
  5. vice versa: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense