discourse

Noun

discourse (countable and uncountable, plural discourses)

1. (archaic, uncountable) Verbal exchange, conversation.
   • 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: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →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...1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   debate, conversation, discussion, talk

2. (uncountable) Expression in words, either speech or writing.
   • 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...2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106

   Synonyms:

   communication, expression

3. (countable) A conversation.
   • 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...1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London...
4. (countable) A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written.
   • The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.

   Synonyms:

   dissertation, lecture, sermon, study, treatise

5. (countable) Any rational expression, reason.
   • Sure he that made us with such large discourse, / Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and godlike reason / To rust in us unused.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...
   • difficult, strange, and harsh to the discourses of natural reason1692, Robert South, A Discourse Concerning The General Resurrection On Acts xxiv. 15

   Synonyms:

   ratiocination

6. (countable) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after Michel Foucault).
   • 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.2007, Christine L. Marran, Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture, page 137
   • 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.2008, Jane Anna Gordon, Lewis Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies, page 308
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").
   • 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.2016 April 4, “What “The Discourse” Has to Do with Internet Discomfort”, in Medium (blog), retrieved 17 Jun 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 7, “Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry’s Vision Explained”, in Screen Rant (news), retrieved 17 Jun 2025
8. (obsolete) Dealing; transaction.
   • Good Captain Bessus, tell us the discourse / Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how / We got the victory.1612 January 5 (first performance, Gregorian calendar; published 1619), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “A King, and No King”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and...

Verb

UK/dɪsˈkɔːs/US/dɪsˈkɔːɹs/

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.

   Synonyms:

   converse, talk, chat, common, confab, confabulate, conversate, convo, jaw, parley

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.
   • While he discours'd on heaven's mysterious
     The world's original, and nature's cause1717, John Dryden [et al.], “Book 15”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
5. (obsolete, transitive) To produce or emit (musical sounds).
   • 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.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...
   • 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.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Volume II, Part II, Chapter V, p. 233