interlocutor

• interlocutour (obsolete)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈlɒkjʊtə/, /ˌɪntəˈlɒkjətə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.təɹˈlɑk.jə.təɹ/, /ˌɪn.təɹˈlɑ.kə.təɹ/, /ˌɪn.təɹˈlɑk.ju.təɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

The agent noun counterpart, via suffix -tor, of Latin interloquor (“speak between, issue an interlocutory decree”), from inter- + loquor (“speak”).

interlocutor (plural interlocutors)

1. A person who takes part in dialogue or conversation: a locutive partner.

   Synonyms: converser, conversant, conversationalist, partner, collocutor

   Coordinate terms: asker, answerer, correspondent, interviewer, interviewee, penpal

   • 1894, Calvin Thomas, “The Teacher's Outfit in German”, in The School Review, volume 2, number 7, page 406:

     Explanations which continually remind one's interlocutor of one's ignorance are a great damper upon the easy flow of talk.

   • 2025 January 14, Howard LaFranchi, “In Biden-Trump handoff, a foreign policy shift for a changed world?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     In the run-up to his return to the White House next Monday, Mr. Trump has rattled the world, and America’s neighborhood in particular, with a list of objectives – buying Greenland, seizing the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state – that treat friendly nations as weak interlocutors and impediments to be subdued.

2. A man in the middle of the line in a minstrel show who questions the endmen and acts as leader.
   • 1991, Maureen Costonis, “Martha Graham's American Document: A Minstrel Show in Modern Dance Dress”, in American Music, volume 9, number 3, page 299:

     The "interlocutor" greeted the audience and engaged in comical repartee with the "end men," named Tambo and Bones.

3. (law) An interlocutory judgement or sentence.

From French interlocutoire, from Latin interlocūtōrium.

interlocutor (plural interlocutors)

1. (Scots law) A decree of a court.
   • 1869, “The Judicial System of Scotland”, in The American Law Register (1852-1891), volume 17, number 5, page 257:

     A decree of the English Court of Chancery is not entitled to more respect in Scotland than a decree (interlocutor) of the Scottish Court of Session in England.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [in.tər.lu.kuˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [in.tər.lo.kuˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.teɾ.lo.kuˈtoɾ]

interlocutor m (plural interlocutors, feminine interlocutora, feminine plural interlocutores)

1. interlocutor (a person who takes part in dialogue or conversation)

• interlocució
• interlocutori

• “interlocutor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “interlocutor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “interlocutor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “interlocutor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

interlocutor m (plural interlocutores, feminine interlocutora, feminine plural interlocutoras)

1. interlocutor (a person who takes part in dialogue or conversation)

• interlocutorio

• “interlocutor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

• Hyphenation: in‧ter‧lo‧cu‧tor

interlocutor m (plural interlocutores, feminine interlocutora, feminine plural interlocutoras)

1. interlocutor (a person who takes part in dialogue or conversation)

• interlocução
• interlocutório

Borrowed from French interlocuteur.

interlocutor m (plural interlocutori)

1. interlocutor

• IPA^(key): /inteɾlokuˈtoɾ/ [ĩn̪.t̪eɾ.lo.kuˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: in‧ter‧lo‧cu‧tor

interlocutor m (plural interlocutores, feminine interlocutora, feminine plural interlocutoras)

1. interlocutor
   • 1975, Jorge Luis Borges, “The Other”, in The Book of Sand, page 19:

     Los dos mentíamos y cada cual sabía que su interlocutor estaba mintiendo.

     We were both lying and each one of us knew that his interlocutor was lying.

2. negotiator
   • 2009 June 10, “Gadafi levanta una tienda en Roma”, in BBC Mundo‎^[1]:

     Gadafi recibirá a sus interlocutores en una carpa de estilo beduino...

     Gaddafi will receive his negotiators with a Bedouin-style carpet...

• “interlocutor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024