Main Entry: ¹dis·course

Pronunciation: \ˈdis-ˌkȯrs, dis-ˈ\

Function: noun

Etymology: 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

Date: 14th century

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>