Conversate gets a reaction out of people that its meaning doesn't explain. It means to have a conversation, and it's easy to understand. And yet it keeps turning up on lists of "words that aren't words".

The dictionaries disagree with the lists, though not completely. As checked in October 2026, Merriam-Webster lists conversate, labelled nonstandard, with a first known use of 1811, and says it has been in English for over 200 years. Dictionary.com lists it as nonstandard except in some dialects. Cambridge has no entry.

Conversate is a back-formation. English often builds a verb by working backwards from a noun: donate, for example, was formed from donation in 1819, according to Etymonline. Take conversation, remove the -ion, add an -e, and you have a perfectly logical verb. The trouble is that the language already had one. Converse has been in English since the 14th century (Etymonline), so conversate looks to many readers like a longer, unnecessary version of a word that already does the job.

Dictionary.com gives a much later first-recorded date, 1970–75, and labels it nonstandard except in some dialects. That's worth knowing before you correct someone: in their variety of English, it may be the normal word.

Merriam-Webster's advice is practical: it's widely seen as nonstandard, so keep it for informal contexts. In an essay, a report or a job application, write converse, talk or have a conversation. In everyday speech, conversate is a long-established word that people will understand.