How to Use versus in a Sentence

versus

preposition
  • Think wolf pack versus lone wolf.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Roan had more to say about the way her songs sound on the track versus live.
    — Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 17 Apr. 2025
  • This is not a problem of haves versus have-nots.
    — Eric Snoey, Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2025
  • So many decades versus five, 10 years.
    — Anderson Cooper, CBS News, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Your instincts versus the sunk cost of your trip.
    — Christopher Elliott, Forbes.com, 30 May 2026
  • Who speaks up in meetings versus who stays silent?
    — Jennifer Kamara, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • This is not about men versus women.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 15 Feb. 2026
  • This is our country versus the world.
    — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025
  • For the most part, this is a red state versus blue state dispute.
    — Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2026
  • The process differs in those who weigh more versus those who weigh less.
    — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024
  • There's only two of them versus a lot of Democrats.
    — Noe Padilla, USA Today, 24 Mar. 2026
  • And the stress of that versus being in nature, where no one’s around you.
    — Vogue, 1 May 2024
  • This has the potential to be a strength-versus-strength matchup.
    — Dan Labbe, cleveland, 18 Sep. 2022
  • This is a classic heart-versus-head dilemma.
    — Steve Hruby, Cincinnati Enquirer, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The stock is cheap versus its history.
    — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Navy blue versus all the other colors.
    — Adam Moss, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2026
  • Winners at War end up being very old school versus new school.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Some of the discourse focussed on the semiotics of a slap versus a punch.
    — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2022
  • Use ant bait versus ant-killing pesticides.
    — Kate Van Pelt, The Spruce, 25 Apr. 2026
  • What are people willing to pay for the agent versus the human?
    — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 13 Mar. 2026
  • That spreads out the water over the whole valley bottom, versus just in a pond.
    — Mary Divine, Twin Cities, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Learn more about the pros and cons of an infant car seat versus a convertible car seat.
    — Heather Corley, Parents, 2 July 2024
  • There are a couple of trade-offs versus an optical zoom.
    — PC Magazine, 4 Sep. 2025
  • There’s something to be said about driving by versus flying over a place.
    — Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 15 Mar. 2023
  • This can help retrain your brain to look forward to these things versus sugar.
    — Jamie Johnson, Verywell Health, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Johnson starts her career versus the team that traded her on draft night.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 8 May 2026
  • Are there drinks that open you up for the experience versus ones that work against it?
    — Brad Japhe, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
  • What felt the most different about season three versus the first two years?
    — Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Good versus evil and darkness versus light, and good must conquer evil.
    — Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
  • And what about grapefruit juice versus chunks of the actual fruit?
    — Caroline Tien, SELF, 7 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'versus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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