course

UK/kɔːs//kɔɹs/

course noun: a sequence of events. Also the ellipsis of of course.

Noun

course (plural courses)

A sequence of events.
- The normal course of events seems to be just one damned thing after another.
- Tilehurst would in the ordinary course have caught him up and they would have progressed companionably wheel by wheel for as far as their way lay together, discussing the simpler aspects of Tapsfield existence.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
1. A normal or customary sequence.
  - The course of true love never did run smooth.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...
  - Day and night, / Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
2. A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
  - Doubts arose about the expediency of such a course in the present crisis.
3. Any ordered process or sequence of steps.
  - There is but one course for me to follow: I'LL MOIDER THE BUM!1958 September 6, Weasel While You Work, spoken by the Barnyard Dawg
4. A learning programme
  - Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless.1992 August 21, Edwina Currie, Diary
  - Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the...2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
5. a series of lectures or lessons in a particular subject
  - I need to take a French course.
6. (Ireland, Philippines, UK) an educational programme at a college or university leading to an academic degree or vocational qualification.
  - What's your course in university?
    —Business studies. And you?
  - During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
7. (especially) A treatment plan.
  - Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting.1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems
8. A stage of a meal.
  - We offer seafood as the first course.
9. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.
  - He appointed […] the courses of the priests.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 8:14
A path that something or someone moves along.
- His illness ran its course.
1. The itinerary of a race.
  - The cross-country course passes the canal.
2. A racecourse.
3. The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.
4. The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.
5. A golf course.
6. The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.
  - The ship changed its course 15 degrees towards south.
7. (navigation) The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.
  - A course was plotted to traverse the ocean.
8. (India, historical) The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station.
  - It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore course, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months!1853, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield; or, Fellowship in the East, section II, page 124
The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.
- Main course and mainsail are the same thing in a sailing ship.
(euphemistic, in plural, obsolete, courses) Menses.
- The bleeding body signifies as a shameful token of uncontrol, as a failure of physical self-mastery particularly associated with woman in her monthly "courses".2018, Gail Kern Paster, The Body Embarrassed, Cornell University, page 92
A row of bricks or blocks.
- On a building that size, two crews could only lay two courses in a day.
A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.
In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.
One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to be played together.

Verb

course (third-person singular simple present courses, present participle coursing, simple past and past participle coursed)

To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).
- The oil coursed through the engine.
- Blood pumped around the human body courses throughout all its veins and arteries.
(transitive) To run through or over.
(transitive) To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
- We coursed him at the heels.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(transitive) To cause to chase after or pursue game.
- to course greyhounds after deer

Also used as

course is also the ellipsis of of course.

course meaning in Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic and Malay

course in Hindi

sequence of events: घटनाक्रम ghaṭnākram

course in Sanskrit

path that something or someone moves along: पथ patha
ordered process or sequence or steps: यामन् yāman

course in Arabic

education: learning program: دَوْرَة dawra, دَوْرَات dawrāt, حَلَقَةٌ دِرَاسِيَّة ḥalaqatun dirāsiyya, مُقَرَّر muqarrar
cooking: stage of a meal: طَبَق ṭabaq, وَجْبَة wajba
sports: trajectory of a ball etc.: مَسار masār

course in Malay

education: learning program: kursus

More languagesFewer languages

course in Indonesian: kursus, program studi
course in Thai: หลักสูตร làk-sùut, คอร์ส, ค้อร์ส, แนวทาง nɛɛo-taang
course in Vietnamese: khoá học

Examples of course in a sentence

The campaign for the abolition of slavery changed the course of history.
I think that red dress looks really good on you, but your mileage may vary, of course.
Even though he's bit, of course the zombies would still chase him.

All 40 example sentences with course

Synonyms of course

class

Forms of course

Noun
plural	courses
Verb
third-person singular present	courses
present participle	coursing
past participle	coursed
past	coursed
Adverb
alternative hypercorrect	'course

Plural of course: courses

Origin of course

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

Words formed from course

Phrases with course

62 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with course

18 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about course

What does course mean?: Course means a sequence of events.
What is course in Hindi?: Course in Hindi is घटनाक्रम (ghaṭnākram). See Course meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is course?: Course can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce course?: Course is pronounced /kɔːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of course?: The plural of course is courses.

Words near course in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: course (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-course.ogg.

Cite this entry: “course.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/course. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.