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Discourse vs Verbal - What's the difference?

discourse | verbal |

As a noun discourse

is (uncountable|archaic) verbal exchange, conversation.

As a verb discourse

is to engage in discussion or conversation; to converse.

As an adjective verbal is

(label) verbal.

discourse

English

(wikipedia discourse)

Noun

  • (uncountable, archaic) Verbal exchange, conversation.
  • * 1847 , , (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.
  • (uncountable) Expression in words, either speech or writing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author= , title=Pixels or Perish , volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse . Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • (countable) A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written.
    • The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.
  • (countable) Any rational expression, reason.
  • * South
    • difficult, strange, and harsh to the discourses of natural reason
  • * Shakespeare
    • Sure he that made us with such large discourse , / Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and godlike reason / To rust in us unused.
  • (social sciences, countable) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after ).
  • * 2007 , Christine L. Marran, Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture (page 137)
    • Furthermore, it should be recalled from the previous chapter that criminological discourse of the 1930s deemed every woman a potential criminal, implicitly including the domestic woman.
  • * 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.
  • (obsolete) Dealing; transaction.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • 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

    Verb

    (discours)
  • To engage in discussion or conversation; to converse.
  • To write or speak formally and at length.
  • (obsolete) To debate.
  • To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason.
    • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

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

    Derived terms

    * discourser

    See also

    * essay

    verbal

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of or relating to words.
  • Concerned with the words, rather than the substance of a text.
  • Consisting of words only.
  • * Mayhew
    • We subjoin an engraving which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind.
  • Expressly spoken rather than written.
    • a verbal''' contract; '''verbal testimony
  • (grammar) Derived from, or having the nature of a verb.
  • (grammar) Used to form a verb.
  • Capable of speech.
  • * 2005 , Avril V. Brereton, Bruce J. Tonge, Pre-schoolers with autism (page 55)
    • How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children?
  • Word for word; literal; verbatim.
    • a verbal translation
  • (obsolete) Abounding with words; verbose.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (of or relating to words) wordish

    Antonyms

    * (consisting of words only) non-verbal, substantive * (expressly spoken or written) implied * (expressly stated) unsaid * (capable of speech) preverbal

    Related terms

    * verbalism * verbality

    Derived terms

    * verbal complement * verbal diarrhoea * verbal noun * verbal regency * verbal warning

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (grammar) A verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.

    • Synonyms

    * non-finite verb

    Verb

  • (transitive, British, Australia) To induce into fabricating a confession.
  • * 1982 , John A. Andrews, Human Rights in Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Study , ISBN 9024725526, BRILL, page 128:
    • "The problem of 'verballing' is unlikely to disappear, whatever the legal status of the person detained."
  • * 2001 , Chris Cunneen, Conflict, Politics and Crime: Aboriginal Communities and the Police , ISBN 1864487194, Allen & Unwin, page 116:
    • "Condren had always claimed that he was assaulted and verballed by police over the murder he had supposedly confessed to committing."
  • * 2004 , Jeremy Gans & Andrew Palmer, Australian Principles of Evidence , ISBN 1876905123, Routledge Cavendish, page 504:
    • "Moreover, given the risk of verballing , it is by no means apparent that it is in the interests of justice that the prosecution have the benefit of admissions that are made on occasions when recordings are impracticable."
    English transitive verbs ----