different between persuasion vs discourse

English

Alternative forms

• perswasion (obsolete)

Etymology

From French persuasion and its source, Latin persu?si?, from persu?d?re, from su?d?re (“to advise, recommend”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p??swe??(?)n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p??swe???n/

Noun

persuasion (countable and uncountable, plural persuasions)

1. The act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain point of view, course of action etc. [from 14th c.]
   • 2006, Rachel Morris, "Borderline Catastrophe", Washington Monthly, vol. 38:10:

     With the base unleashed, the White House was unable to broker a compromise, either by persuasion or by pressure.

2. An argument or other statement intended to influence one's opinions or beliefs; a way of persuading someone. [from 14th c.]
   • 1928, "The New Pictures", Time, 13 Feb 1928:

     Sadie curses, weeps, then, infected by Mr. Hamilton's writhing persuasions, prays and becomes penitent.

3. A strongly held conviction, opinion or belief. [from 16th c.]

   It is his persuasion that abortion should never be condoned.

   • 2010, "We don't need gay stereotypes", The Guardian, 6 Feb 2010:

     Social understanding and equality can neither be nurtured through fear, nor intimidation. Surely this goes for people of all sexual persuasions.

4. One's ability or power to influence someone's opinions or feelings; persuasiveness. [from 16th c.]
5. A specified religious adherence, a creed; any school of thought or ideology. [from 17th c.]
   • 2009, US Catholic (letter), May 2009:

     As a convert from the Baptist persuasion more than 40 years ago, I still feel like an outsider in the church despite the kindness and acceptance of Catholic friends.

6. (by extension, often humorous) Another personal, animal or inanimate trait that is not (very) liable to be changed by persuasion, such as sex, gender, ethnicity, origin, profession or nature.
   • 1871 February 14, J.J., "More Solution", Latter-Day Saints Millennial Star, page 105.

   • 1919, Pere Marquette Magazine, Vol. 11, page 19.

   • 1967, Taxes. The Tax Magazine, vol. 45, issue 2, page 698.

   • 1984, The Medical Journal of Australia, page 739.

   • 2015, Leslie Kelly, No More Bad Girls, in New Year's Resolution: Romance!: Say Yes\No More Bad Girls\Just a Fling, Harlequin, page 125.

Antonyms

• dissuasion

Derived terms

• persuade
• persuasive
• suasion

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin persuasio, from persuadere, from suadere (“to advise, recommend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.s?a.zj??/

Noun

persuasion f (plural persuasions)

1. persuasion

Further reading

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

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