discourse

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English

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Alternative forms

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

Noun

discourse (countable and uncountable, plural discourses)

  1. (uncountable, archaic) Verbal exchange, conversation.
    • c. 1587–1588, , Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
      UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms
      UUil tell how many thouſand men he ſlew.
      And when you looke for amorous diſcourſe,
      Will rattle foorth his facts of war and blood:
    • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell , chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., , →OCLC:
      Two or three of the gentlemen sat near him, and I caught at times scraps of their conversation across the room. At first I could not make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of Louisa Eshton and Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentary sentences that reached me at intervals.
  2. (uncountable) Expression in words, either speech or writing.
    • 2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 February 2013, page 106:
      Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
  3. (countable) A conversation.
    • 1726 October 28, , “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume II, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), pages 16–17:
      It ſeems, the Minds of theſe People are ſo taken up with intenſe Speculations, that they neither can ſpeak, nor attend to the Diſcourſes of others, without being rouzed by ſome external Taction upon the Organs of Speech and Hearing; for which reaſon, thoſe Perſons who are able to afford it always keep a Flapper (the Original is Climenole) in their Family, as one of their Domeſticks, nor ever walk abroad or make Viſits without him.
  4. (countable) A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written.
    The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.
  5. (countable) Any rational expression, reason.
  6. (social sciences, countable) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after Michel Foucault).
    • 2007, Christine L. Marran, Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture, page 137:
      Furthermore, it should be recalled from the previous chapter that criminological discourse of the 1930s deemed every woman a potential criminal, implicitly including the domestic woman.
    • 2008, Jane Anna Gordon, Lewis Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies, page 308:
      But equally important to the emergence of uniquely African-American queer discourses is the refusal of African-American movements for liberation to address adequately issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
    • 2019 July 3, Jess Schwalb, “Red Line Rebellion”, in Jewish Currents‎:
      Brown University's Friday Night Jews (FNJ) began as an informal Shabbat dinner gathering in 2016, as a space for Jewish students who were feeling fed up with Hillel’s limitations regarding Israel/Palestine discourse, after the Brown/RISD Hillel rescinded sponsorship of a film screening by the Israeli nonprofit Zochrot, an organization that educates Jewish Israelis about the Nakba.
  7. (Internet, uncountable) Lengthy, often heated debate over controversial subject matter, particularly within fandom and activist spaces. Sometimes rendered as a proper noun with the definite article (i.e. "the Discourse").
    • 2016 April 4, “What “The Discourse” Has to Do with Internet Discomfort”, in Medium‎ (blog), retrieved 17 June 2025:
      We all know — or know now — the Internet meme known as “The Discourse,” which became popular on the social media site Tumblr in April of last year.
    • 2024 August 7, “Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry’s Vision Explained”, in ScreenRant‎ (news), retrieved 17 June 2025:
      Nobody will ever know if Gene Roddenberry would hate DS9 had he lived to see it, but the controversy was patient zero for the arguments that define modern Star Trek discourse.
    • 2024 August 31, “10 Dumbest Doctor Who Controversies”, in WhatCulture‎ (news), retrieved 17 June 2025:
      ...needless to say, the small-scale nature of these controversies provides a window into who the true 'snowflakes' are when it comes to Doctor Who discourse.
  8. (obsolete) Dealing; transaction.

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Translations

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Verb

discourse (third-person singular simple present discourses, present participle discoursing, simple past and past participle discoursed)

  1. (intransitive) To engage in discussion or conversation; to converse.
  2. (intransitive) To write or speak formally and at length.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To debate.
  4. To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To produce or emit (musical sounds).
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      Hamlet. Will you play upon this pipe? It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your fingers and thumbs, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music.
    • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion‎, Volume II, Part II, Chapter V, p. 233:
      Music discoursed on that melodious instrument, a Jew's harp, keeps the elfin women away from the hunter, because the tongue of the instrument is of steel.
    • 1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter XXIII, in The Secret Play‎, New York: D. Appleton & Co., page 300:
      Dahl's Silver Cornet Band, augmented for the occasion to the grand total of fourteen pieces, discoursed sweet—well, discoursed music; let us not be too particular as to the quality of it.

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See also

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