as in conversation
talking or a talk between two or more people
Thomas Jefferson is said to have been able to participate in knowledgeable discourse on a breathtaking array of subjects
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in to lecture
to give a formal often extended talk on a subject
the guest lecturer discoursed at some length on the long-term results of the war
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in to speak
to talk as if giving an important and formal speech
grandly discoursed as though he were an expert on every subject
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of discourse
Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 29 Mar. 2026
Teddi Mellencamp’s Speech Silenced the Debate Before the viral discourse took hold, the ceremony featured a moment that cut through all the noise.
—Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026
Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2025
Admissions officers want to see that students will contribute meaningfully to discourse on campus.
—Christopher Rim, Forbes.com, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for discourse
Noun
The public discourse in Iran is already heading that way.
—Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 29 Mar. 2026
Teddi Mellencamp’s Speech Silenced the Debate Before the viral discourse took hold, the ceremony featured a moment that cut through all the noise.
—Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026
Verb
The cycle can become so accidentally ubiquitous that the former kids who blissfully existed outside of whatever discourses these trends or bands started in their heyday wonder now, as adults, what was so bad about them in the first place.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2025
Admissions officers want to see that students will contribute meaningfully to discourse on campus.
—Christopher Rim, Forbes.com, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for discourse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discourse
Noun
-
Communications or conversations can feel abruptly charged or destabilizing during the Leo moon.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
-
During the conversation, Kennedy was asked to offer advice to parents.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The van’s speakers played a high-volume mashup of construction sounds, Jordan Peterson lectures, Marine Corps drills, and mumbling voices.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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Joanna Fabicon, who has lectured on contemporary children’s literature at UCLA, added that educators, librarians and publishers must all grapple with the allegations against Chávez and decide how to move forward.—
Howard Blume,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
That fall, an old friend reached out to my father through the underground communications network, dialling a number printed on a faded piece of plastic Dymo tape and speaking to him from a public phone booth.—
Zayd Ayers Dohrn,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2026
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Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.—
Farnoush Amiri,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Fourteen months after Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs started contract discussions, the sides agreed to a six-year, $115 million extension through the 2032 season.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Mar. 2026
-
The very structure of the discussion can begin to suppress caution.—
Jane Sadowsky,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The married father of two sons, who had been on the force for seven months, was making his regular rounds and stopped at Circle K, spotting Teresa talking with a 16-year-old boy outside the store, according to court records.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
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And, even then, maybe don’t talk to me.—
Jesse Eisenberg,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Most presidents have treated it as a chance to note their accomplishments, to harangue Congress into supporting their priorities, and to speak to the American people.—
Tom Nichols,
The Atlantic,
25 Feb. 2026
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After haranguing the receptionist, he was eventually granted a 15-minute audience with Fujita, who advised his teenage devotee to focus on future technologies like computers.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Inside this building, generations of artists a century apart converse about similarly distressing and awe-inducing encounters between us and our technological creations.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
19 Mar. 2026
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The two converse as if Janet is a hostage on a permanent Zoom call, always sitting in the same room, in the same clothes, talking to the same nonexistent camera.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
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More often, though, Tallent demonstrates his characters’ precarity rather than declaiming about it.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2026
-
Providence doesn’t give you a Latin teacher for a mother without consequence: Samy declaimed classical locutions with scandalous ease.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Discourse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discourse. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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