From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdiscoursedis‧course1 /ˈdɪskɔːs $ -ɔːrs/ ●○○ noun formal 1 [countable]SPEAK A LANGUAGEWRITE a serious speech or piece of writing on a particular subjectdiscourse on/upon a discourse on art2 [uncountable]DISCUSS serious conversation or discussion between people Candidates should engage in serious political discourse.3 [uncountable]SPEAK A LANGUAGEWRITE the language used in particular types of speech or writing a study of spoken discourse
Examples from the Corpus
discourse• In many cases, the conventions of academic discourse force researchers to make these assumptions even more explicit and specific.• the restraints of diplomatic discourse• Without tampering with the deviant sentence itself, we can investigate the effects of placing it in variously elaborated discourse contexts.• However exciting his paper, his thesis seemed in danger of crumbling if it were reworked into a conventional historical discourse.• Legal discourse and scientific discourse often sacrifice the maxim of quantity to the maxim of quality.• Chapter 2 attempts to demonstrate the specific appeal of formal labourism by examining the construction of political discourses around the working class.• Rational discourse on public policy is vital to a democracy.• The prototype of non-reciprocal discourse is a book by a dead author.• Simply combining methods associated with femininity and masculinity, does not challenge the discourses of gender which support these associations.discourse on/upon• Should I launch into a discourse on why I didn't value male above female children?• Blackwell's radical ideas point to the tentative beginnings of a discourse on active female sexuality.• The book opens with a discourse on the environment.• Sherman had heard Gene Lopwitz discourse on that subject.• He shot 3-for-9 and then resumed his ongoing discourse on the march to the playoffs.• Explicit presidential discourse on policy issues was exceedingly rare.• Morry Taylor, a businessman, gave rambling discourses on the need to employ business tactics in government; and Rep.• The quest for greater knowledge was underpinned by a highly gender-specific discourse on sexuality.• What is more depressing is the way this escape from the facts is beginning to creep into Western discourse on Kosovo.discoursedis‧course2 /dɪsˈkɔːs $ -ɔːrs/ verb → discourse on/upon something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
discourse• He went on to discourse at length on the nature of fat.• Iris was discoursing with animation, her hands describing sweeping patterns in the air, her whole attention focused on her subject.Origin discourse1 (1400-1500) Late Latin discursus “conversation”, from Latin, “running around”, from currere “to run” 