discourse

¹dis·course

noun \ˈdis-ˌkȯrs, dis-ˈ\

Definition of DISCOURSE

1

archaic : the capacity of orderly thought or procedure : rationality

2

: verbal interchange of ideas; especially : conversation

3

a : formal and orderly and usually extended expression of thought on a subject b : connected speech or writing c : a linguistic unit (as a conversation or a story) larger than a sentence

4

obsolete : social familiarity

5

: a mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts (as history or institutions) <critical discourse>

Examples of DISCOURSE

1. He likes to engage in lively discourse with his visitors.
2. She delivered an entertaining discourse on the current state of the film industry.
3. Hans Selye, a Czech physician and biochemist at the University of Montreal, took these ideas further, introducing the term “stress” (borrowed from metallurgy) to describe the way trauma caused overactivity of the adrenal gland, and with it a disruption of bodily equilibrium. In the most extreme case, Selye argued, stress could wear down the body's adaptation mechanisms, resulting in death. His narrative fit well into the cultural discourse of the cold-war era, where, Harrington writes, many saw themselves as “broken by modern life.” —Jerome Groopman, New York Times Book Review, 27 Jan. 2008
4. Such is the exquisite refinement of American political discourse in the early 21st century. —Brad Friedman, Mother Jones, January & February 2006
5. Literature records itself, shows how its records might be broken, and how the assumptions of a given discourse or culture might thereby be challenged. Shakespeare is, again, the great example. —Richard Poirier, Raritan Reading, 1990

Origin of DISCOURSE

Middle English discours, from Medieval Latin & Late Latin discursus; Medieval Latin, argument, from Late Latin, conversation, from Latin, act of running about, from discurrere to run about, from dis- + currere to run — more at car

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to DISCOURSE

Synonyms: chat, colloquy, converse, dialogue (also dialog), conversation, discussion, exchange

Related Words: banter, chaff, cross fire, give-and-take, persiflage, raillery, repartee; conference, parley, powwow; babble, chatter, chin-wag [slang], chitchat, confabulation, gabfest, gossip, natter [chiefly British], palaver, prate, prattle, rap, small talk, table talk; round-robin, roundtable, symposium; debate, deliberation

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Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile

Rhymes with DISCOURSE

clotheshorse, concourse, crash course, dark horse, dawn horse, dead horse, deforce, divorce, dray horse, endorse, enforce, extrorse, golf course, gut course, high horse, introrse, iron horse, midcourse, of course, Old Norse, one-horse, packhorse, perforce, post-horse, racecourse, racehorse, recourse, redhorse, remorse, resource, retrorse, sawhorse, sea horse, stringcourse, trial horse, unhorse, warhorse, wheelhorse, Whitehorse, workhorse