make conversation

make conversation

To chat with someone simply for the sake of talking. I hate having to make conversation with the adults my parents invite to their dinner parties. A: "It's none of your business what I do for work." B: "I was just trying to make conversation, no need to be so sensitive!"
See also: conversation, make
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

make conversation

Engage someone in talking purely for its own sake, make small talk, as in She had a real talent for making conversation with strangers. [c. 1920]
See also: conversation, make
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • CTC
  • chat up
  • mingle with
  • mingle with (someone or something)
  • drop in for a chat
  • LTNS
  • fan the breeze
  • shoot the breeze
  • bat the breeze
  • breeze
References in periodicals archive
"I approached him carefully and tried to make conversation with this chap.
Cruel motorists beeped horns and shouted at suicidal man on bridge to 'jump'; Drivers on the A38 shouted for the man to kill himself, says Derbyshire Police acting sergeant Ben Wildman who successfully talked the man down from the edge
If he doesn't come back, you don't have to make conversation with him.
Uncivil liberties