Link Centre Dictionary

discourse

dis·course

UK/dɪsˈkɔːs/ US/dɪsˈkɔːɹs/ uncommon archaic obsolete
noun (3) verb (3)

noun

1.
2.

an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service)

Synonyms
3.

an extended communication (often interactive) dealing with some particular topic

  • “the book contains an excellent discussion of modal logic”
  • “his treatment of the race question is badly biased”
Synonyms

verb

1.

to consider or examine in speech or writing

  • “The article covered all the different aspects of this question”
  • “The class discussed Dante”
  • “Inferno”
Synonyms
2.

carry on a conversation

Synonyms
3.

talk or hold forth formally about a topic

  • “The speaker dissertated about the social politics in 18th century England”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English discours, borrowed from Middle French discours (“conversation, speech”), from Latin discursus (“the act of running about”), from Latin discurrō (“run about”), from dis- (“apart”) + currō (“run”). Spelling modified by influence of Middle French cours (“course”). Doublet of discursus.

Phrases

  • direct discourse
  • discourse analysis
  • discourse analyst
  • discourse marker
  • disk horse
  • domain of discourse
  • free indirect discourse
  • indirect discourse

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.