discourse

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C,U] (formal) a long and serious treatment or discussion of a subject in speech or writing: a discourse on issues of gender and sexuality * He was hoping for some lively political discourse at the meeting. 2 [U] (linguistics) the use of language in speech and writing in order to produce meaning; language that is studied, usually in order to see how the different parts of a text are connected: spoken / written discourse * discourse analysis verb PHRASALVERBS discourse on / upon sth (formal) to talk or give a long speech about sth that you know a lot about: He discoursed for hours on the problems of the education system.