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I'm looking for single word synonyms for tête-à-tête, which express the idea of a private and intimate conversation. I wasn't able to find any.

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The online thesaurus has an entry for tête-à-tête. – coleopterist Nov 4 '12 at 7:32
Thanks @coleopterist for the edits. The online thesaurus did indeed have synonyms. As mentioned, however, I was looking for a single word synonym. – ak86 Nov 7 '12 at 7:42

5 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Aside from the entries found in the thesaurus, I might suggest:

  • face-to-face

Even though face-to-face is often used as an adjective (as in face-to-face meeting, face-to-face interview, or face-to-face instruction), face-to-face can also be used as a noun, meaning, well, tête-à-tête. Wiktionary defines face-to-face as:

A meeting, especially a meeting between two people conducted in person as opposed to a meeting conducted at a distance through technology.

Moreover, Google books shows the expression used as a noun, in instances such as:

Baretta needs to have a face to face with Robert and see that he has moved on...

Adelman suggested that we have a face-to-face with Jones, which we did.

In an unprecedented move, Clifford went to Chicago to have a face-to-face with Tony's superiors.

One other suggestion I might offer – particularly if you want to stress the intimacy of the conversation – is

  • pillow talk

OneLook lists this definition:

intimate conversation between lovers (typically occurring in bed)

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Single word request ;) – mplungjan Nov 4 '12 at 9:44
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@mplungjan: Touché. :^) Still, if it gets its own entry in the dictionary, I consider that to fit the single-word-request bill. (The O.P. is free to disagree, of course.) – J.R. Nov 4 '12 at 9:51
+1 Let's have a "face-to-face" sometime soon is perfectly reasonable and a single word synonym for tête-à-tête. Just because thesaurus.com lists it as "face-to-face chat" doesn't mean that one cannot noun the adjective. – Bill Franke Nov 4 '12 at 10:06
Yeah - like Let's have a t-a-t is one word too... – mplungjan Nov 4 '12 at 10:20
You can always verb the noun and say "Let's face-to-face tomorrow night". MS Word tells me that face-to-face is only 1 word. In "Let's interact", interact is only one word with the same number of syllables as face-to-face, so I don't think there's any significant difference between using a fused lexeme (inter + act) and a hyphenated lexeme (face-to-face). Peevish pedantry is like sooooooooooooooooooooo passé, mplungjan. Please get over it and deal with the question rather than your sense of violated values. My judgments reflect my biases, not the absolute truth. And yours? – Bill Franke Nov 4 '12 at 12:34
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up vote 1 down vote

You can always try huddle, unless the sports metaphor isn't appropriate.

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Thanks Bill. Huddle isn't exactly the word I was looking for as I was looking for something between two people, but I like it, and might end up using it. – ak86 Nov 7 '12 at 7:58
Two people can have a huddle. It is, actually, one of those words that has an oblique romantic connotation. And it rhymes with cuddle. :-) – Bill Franke Nov 7 '12 at 8:13
up vote 1 down vote

The normal English equivalent is heart-to-heart - an intimate talk in private; "he took me aside for a little heart-to-heart".

Unlike tete-a-tete, heart-to-heart is often followed by the word "talk".

I don't use it myself, but for an undeniably "single word" alternative, there's schmooze verb: to talk intimately and cozily; gossip. noun: a long and intimate conversation. Some may feel this word always implies ...in order to manipulate, flatter, or impress someone.

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Thanks @fumblefingers. I like heart-to-heart, but I think face-to-face fits tete-a-tete as a synonym better. Schmooze, as you say, has a negative connotation, at least for me. – ak86 Nov 7 '12 at 7:54
@ak86: If you're happy with "face-to-face" that's your choice, I guess. But I'm surprised others are voting in that direction, since the primary sense of "face-to-face" is interact in person (not, for example, on the telephone). You'll find it's very often used as an adjective, followed by "formal/business" words like meeting, interview, environment. Unlike "heart-to-heart" (which always implies "intimacy/privacy/honesty"), and more often either stands alone as a noun itself, or modifies words like chat, talk, conversation. – FumbleFingers Nov 7 '12 at 12:43
up vote 0 down vote

Confabulation, which can be shortened to the informal confab.

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It does not seem to be regarded as a synonym to T-a-T by the online thesauri. – mplungjan Nov 4 '12 at 7:40
Thanks Barrie. Interesting word ans suggestion, but I'm letting it pass for the negative connotation of fabricating lies to fill gaps in the memory. – ak86 Nov 7 '12 at 7:59
up vote 0 down vote

How about surreptitious or covert?

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Thanks @Mottie, but I don't think either of them are a synonym to tete-a-tete as there's no secret talks. – ak86 Nov 7 '12 at 7:56

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