Course

//kɔːs// adv, noun, verb, slang

adv, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sequence of events.

    "The normal course of events seems to be just one damned thing after another."

  2. 2
    a mode of action wordnet
  3. 3
    A sequence of events.; A normal or customary sequence.

    "The course of true love never did run smooth."

  4. 4
    education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings wordnet
  5. 5
    A sequence of events.; A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
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  1. 6
    facility consisting of a circumscribed area of land or water laid out for a sport wordnet
  2. 7
    A sequence of events.; Any ordered process or sequence of steps.

    "There is but one course for me to follow: I'LL MOIDER THE BUM!"

  3. 8
    (construction) a layer of masonry wordnet
  4. 9
    A sequence of events.; A learning programme

    "Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless."

  5. 10
    part of a meal served at one time wordnet
  6. 11
    A sequence of events.; A learning programme; a series of lectures or lessons in a particular subject

    "I need to take a French course."

  7. 12
    a body of students who are taught together wordnet
  8. 13
    A sequence of events.; A learning programme; an educational programme at a college or university leading to an academic degree or vocational qualification. Ireland, Philippines, UK

    "What's your course in university? —Business studies. And you?"

  9. 14
    a connected series of events or actions or developments wordnet
  10. 15
    A sequence of events.; A treatment plan. especially

    "Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting."

  11. 16
    general line of orientation wordnet
  12. 17
    A sequence of events.; A stage of a meal.

    "We offer seafood as the first course."

  13. 18
    a line or route along which something travels or moves wordnet
  14. 19
    A sequence of events.; The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.

    "He appointed […] the courses of the priests."

  15. 20
    A path that something or someone moves along.

    "His illness ran its course."

  16. 21
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The itinerary of a race.

    "The cross-country course passes the canal."

  17. 22
    A path that something or someone moves along.; A racecourse.
  18. 23
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.
  19. 24
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.
  20. 25
    A path that something or someone moves along.; A golf course.
  21. 26
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.

    "The ship changed its course 15 degrees towards south."

  22. 27
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.

    "A course was plotted to traverse the ocean."

  23. 28
    A path that something or someone moves along.; The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station. India, historical

    "It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore course, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months!"

  24. 29
    The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.

    "Main course and mainsail are the same thing in a sailing ship."

  25. 30
    Menses. euphemistic, in-plural, obsolete

    "The bleeding body signifies as a shameful token of uncontrol, as a failure of physical self-mastery particularly associated with woman in her monthly "courses"."

  26. 31
    A row or file of objects.; A row of bricks or blocks.

    "On a building that size, two crews could only lay two courses in a day."

  27. 32
    A row or file of objects.; A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.
  28. 33
    A row or file of objects.; In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.
  29. 34
    One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to be played together.
Verb
  1. 1
    To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).

    "The oil coursed through the engine."

  2. 2
    hunt with hounds wordnet
  3. 3
    To run through or over. transitive
  4. 4
    move along, of liquids wordnet
  5. 5
    To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after. transitive

    "We coursed him at the heels."

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  1. 6
    move swiftly through or over wordnet
  2. 7
    To cause to chase after or pursue game. transitive

    "to course greyhounds after deer"

Adverb
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of of course. abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, ellipsis, not-comparable

    ""Course it's mighty hard to tell till we've put out a few traps," said the former, "but it looks to me like we've struck it lucky.""

Adverb
  1. 1
    as might be expected wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
classclassnaturallypathrunacademic specialty

Example

More examples

"It would of course be cheaper for you to sleep at our place."

Etymology

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

Related phrases

Bestuzhev courseaccess courseassault courseback coursebelt courseblocking coursechange courseclerk of the coursecollision courseconfidence courseconversion coursecore course

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.