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

1archaic : the capacity of orderly thought or procedure : rationality2: verbal interchange of ideas ; especially : conversation3 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 sentence4obsolete : social familiarity5: a mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts (as history or institutions) <critical discourse>