different between discourse vs monologue

English

Etymology

From Middle English discours, borrowed from Middle French discours (“conversation, speech”), from Latin discursus (“the act of running about”), from Latin discurr? (“run about”), from dis- (“apart”) + curr? (“run”). Spelling modified by influence of Middle French cours (“course”). Doublet of discursus.

Pronunciation

• (mainly noun) IPA^(key): /?d?sk??(?)s/
• (mainly verb) IPA^(key): /d?s?k??(?)s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?d?sko(?)?s/, /d?s?ko(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?d?sko?s/, /d?s?ko?s/

Noun

discourse (countable and uncountable, plural discourses)

1. (uncountable, archaic) Verbal exchange, conversation.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII

     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 intervals.

2. (uncountable) Expression in words, either speech or writing.
3. (countable) A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written.

   The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.

4. (countable) Any rational expression, reason.
   • 1692, Robert South, A Discourse Concerning The General Resurrection On Acts xxiv. 15

     difficult, strange, and harsh to the discourses of natural reason
5. (social sciences, countable) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after Michel Foucault).
   • 2008, Jane Anna Gordon, Lewis Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies (page 308)

     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.
6. (obsolete) Dealing; transaction.

   • Good Captain Bessus, tell us the discourse / Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how / We got the victory.

Synonyms

• (expression in words): communication, expression
• (verbal exchange): debate, conversation, discussion, talk
• (formal lengthy exposition of some subject): dissertation, lecture, sermon, study, treatise
• (rational expression): ratiocination

Derived terms

• direct discourse
• indirect discourse

Related terms

• course
• discursive

Translations

Verb

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.
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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

5. (obsolete, transitive) To produce or emit (musical sounds).
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 2, [3]

     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.

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Volume II, Part II, Chapter V, p. 233, [4]

     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.

   • 1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, The Secret Play, New York: D. Appleton & Co., Chapter XXIII, p. 300 [5]

     Dahl's Silver Cornet Band, augmented for the occasion to the grand total of fourteen pieces, discoursed sweet—well, discoursed music; let us not be too particular as to the quality of it.

Synonyms

• (engage in discussion or conversation): converse, talk
• (write or speak formally and at length):

Derived terms

• discourser

Translations

See also

• essay

Anagrams

• discoures, ruscoside

English

Alternative forms

• monolog (US, noun)

Etymology

[circa 1550] From circa 1500 borrowing of Middle French monologue, modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Ancient Greek or via Byzantine Greek ????????? (monólogos, “speaking alone”).

Noun

monologue (plural monologues)

1. (drama, authorship) A long speech by one person in a play; sometimes a soliloquy; other times spoken to other characters.
2. (comedy) A long series of comic stories and jokes as an entertainment.
3. A long, uninterrupted utterance that monopolizes a conversation.

Synonyms

• (drama): soliloquy

Antonyms

• (a monopolizing utterance): dialogue

Translations

See also

• soliloquy

Verb

monologue (third-person singular simple present monologues, present participle monologuing, simple past and past participle monologued)

1. To deliver a monologue.
   • 1989, Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices

     Powerful parents, in her formulation, feeling themselves autonomous and powerful, give autonomy and power to their children; powerless ones, feeling themselves passive and controlled, in turn exert an excessive control on their children, and monologue at them, instead of having a dialogue with them.

Synonyms

• monologize

Derived terms

• monologic / monological
• monologuist

French

Etymology

Modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Ancient Greek or via Byzantine Greek ????????? (monólogos).

Pronunciation

Noun

monologue m (plural monologues)

1. monologue

Verb

monologue

1. first-person singular present indicative of monologuer
2. third-person singular present indicative of monologuer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of monologuer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of monologuer
5. second-person singular imperative of monologuer

Further reading

• “monologue” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Noun

monologue m (plural monologues)

1. soliloquy; monologue

Portuguese

Verb

monologue

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of monologar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of monologar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of monologar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of monologar

Spanish

Verb

monologue

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of monologar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of monologar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of monologar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of monologar.