different between memoir vs discourse

English

Etymology

From French mémoire (“memoir”), from Latin memoria (“memory”). Doublet of memoria and memory.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?m?w??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?m?w??/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /?m?m????/
• Hyphenation: mem?oir

Noun

memoir (plural memoirs)

1. An autobiography; a book describing the personal experiences of an author.

2. A biography; a book describing the experiences of a subject from personal knowledge of the subject or from sources with personal knowledge of the subject.

3. Any form of narrative describing the personal experiences of a writer.

Usage notes

A memoir may differ from a simple biography or autobiography by not focusing on the author as the primary subject matter, but on people and events in the subject's life. Emphasis is placed on personal observations about external events.

The plural memoirs is often used to refer to a single work.

Related terms

• memory

Translations

References

• “memoir” in Michael Agnes, editor-in-chief, Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, ?ISBN; reproduced on the Collins English Dictionary
• “memoir” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “memoir”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• “memoir”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “Memoir” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robin?on, Paterno?ter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, ?OCLC, page 341, column 2.

Further reading

• memoir on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• memoir in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• momier

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