course

KORS/kɔɹs/UKKAWS/kɔːs/

Pluralcourses

Often confused with coarse

18 meanings of course

Practice

1
nouncountable
The way a sequence of events or steps develops over time, especially the usual or expected way.
Historians still debate what altered the course of the revolution.
Her decision shaped the entire course of her career.
UsageCommon in set phrases: in the course of, over the course of a year, the course of events.
Similarpath, direction, progress, development, trajectory
Note
It suits stories of change: something alters, shapes or interrupts the course of a life or a war.
2
definitelyadverbcolloquialabbreviationellipsis
Clipped form of the phrase 'of course', used in casual speech to mean naturally or certainly, or as a reply meaning yes.
Course she remembered your birthday, she never forgets.
Are you coming with us? Course, just let me grab my coat.
UsageUsually opens the sentence: Course I'll come. In formal writing, use the full of course.
Similarsure, naturally, obviously, certainly
Note
Spoken English clips of course to its second word, and the result usually opens a sentence. A. M. Chisholm's A Thousand a Plate (1922) has "Course it's mighty hard to tell", and Mezz Mezzrow's Really the Blues (1946) has "Course, my home wasn't exactly in Harlem".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
A. M. Chisholm wrote A Thousand a Plate, published in 1922. en.wikisource.org
The quoted words occur in A Thousand a Plate; the speaker is Skookum Bill Hutchins. en.wikisource.org
Mezz Mezzrow wrote Really the Blues, with Bernard Wolfe. nyrb.com
Really the Blues was first published in 1946. openlibrary.org
The quoted words occur in Really the Blues, in Mezzrow's autobiographical narration. en.wiktionary.org
3
nouncountable
An organized program of study in a subject, taught over a set period, including a college or university program leading to a qualification.
He enrolled in an online course to learn graphic design.
The library runs a free ten-week course on basic Spanish every spring.
UsageYou take, do or enroll in a course, and it is in or on a subject: a course on basic Spanish.
Similarclass, program
Note
Education talk leans on this word everywhere, down to the C in MOOC: The Economist in 2013 spelled it out as "massive open online courses". How much ground it covers varies, from a single subject to a whole degree.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The C in MOOC stands for course, and The Economist expanded MOOCs as "massive open online courses" in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
4
golf groundsnouncountable
An area of land laid out for playing golf, with a series of holes across varied ground.
The course at Pebble Beach is famous among golfers for its ocean views.
Groundskeepers mow the course's fairways every morning before play begins.
UsageOften just the course when golf is clear: out on the course by seven.
Similarlinks
Note
The word covers the whole layout of holes, usually eighteen, not just a route through it. That breadth separates it from a race route, which runs as a line from start to finish. A golf course is ground to be played across.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
A golf course is the playing ground as a whole. en.wikipedia.org
Golf courses usually have eighteen holes. en.wikipedia.org
5
nouncountable
The route or direction followed by someone or something, such as a ship, aircraft, ball, or river.
The hikers plotted a course through the dense forest.
The herd's migration follows the same course every year.
UsageCommon set phrases: change course, on course, off course, set a course for.
Similarroute, path, direction, way, track
6
plan of actionnouncountable
A chosen way of proceeding; a planned manner of doing something.
After much debate, the board settled on a cautious course.
Changing course now would mean abandoning months of work.
UsageCommon in course of action, and in the safest course is to + verb.
Similarapproach, plan, strategy, policy, tack
7
meal partnouncountable
One of the separate parts of a meal, served in sequence.
The main course was roast lamb with vegetables.
Between courses, the waiter cleared our plates and refilled the water.
UsageOften combined with a number before a noun: a three-course meal, a four-course dinner.
Similardish
Note
Meals are sequences too, which is why this sense grows from the sequence of events: each course is one stage, served in turn. On a sailing ship, though, main course means a sail, not a dish.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
On a sailing ship, 'main course' names a sail. en.wiktionary.org
8
nouncountable
An area or route laid out for a race or other sport, such as a racecourse or an obstacle course.
Organizers shortened the course after the bridge was closed for repairs.
The course climbed steeply for the first three miles of the relay.
Similarroute, track, circuit
9
treatment plannouncountable
A planned series of medical treatments given over a set period.
She began a six-week course of radiation after the surgery.
Skipping doses can make a course of antibiotics less effective.
UsageUsually a course of + the treatment: a course of antibiotics. You finish or complete a course.
Similarregimen, cycle, series
Note
Agatha Christie stretches it to a slimming regime in The Thirteen Problems (1932), where Miss Clark, alarmed at her stoutness, is "doing a course of what is popularly known as banting". The idea underneath is a set sequence meant to be finished.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Agatha Christie wrote The Thirteen Problems, first published in 1932. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted words describe Miss Clark undertaking banting because of her stoutness; Sir Henry reports this. static.audioteka.com

Less common meanings

10
nouncountable
A continuous horizontal row or layer of bricks, stones, tiles, or other material in a wall or roof.
The mason checked that every course was level before continuing.
A damp-proof layer sits between the lower courses of the wall.
Similarlayer, row, tier
Note
Building borrowed the sense of a row or file: a course is one horizontal layer, and walls rise course by course. Builders measure progress this way, as in two crews laying two courses in a day, and they name rows by position, such as the lower or top course. The same row idea carries into roof tiles and into knitting.
11
verbintransitive
To flow or move swiftly through or over something, as blood through the veins.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins as the race began.
Floodwaters course over the plain whenever the dam overflows.
UsageUsually with through or down: coursed through her veins, tears coursed down his face.
Similarflow, rush, surge, pour, stream
Note
Blood is the classic subject, but feelings now flow the same way. Salman Rushdie's Fury (2001) has rage that "coursed through his nervous system", and The Guardian in 2013 pictured revolutionary spirit coursing through a pope's veins. It suggests speed and force, not a gentle trickle.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Fury is by Salman Rushdie and was first published in 2001. en.wikipedia.org
Fury describes rage that “coursed through his nervous system”; this is narration about Professor Solanka. bookbrowse.com
A Guardian article published in 2013 describes revolutionary spirit coursing through Pope Francis's veins. theguardian.com
12
verbtransitive
To chase game, especially hares, with hounds that follow it by sight rather than scent; also, to send hounds after game.
On the open plains, the ranchers coursed jackrabbits with their greyhounds.
Trained sighthounds course hares by sight alone.
Similarhunt, chase, pursue
Note
Shakespeare already uses it in Macbeth: "We coursed him at the heels." Coursing is the chase by sighthounds such as greyhounds, which follow the quarry by sight rather than scent, so the word suits a pursuit across open ground.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Shakespeare uses the quoted wording in Macbeth; Duncan speaks it in Act 1, Scene 6. folger.edu
Coursing involves sighthounds, including greyhounds, pursuing quarry by sight rather than scent. en.wikipedia.org
13
monthly bleedingnounobsoleteeuphemisticplural
The monthly menstrual flow, usually referred to in the plural.
The physician recorded that the patient's courses were irregular that winter.
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".
2018, Gail Kern Paster, The Body Embarrassed
Note
A polite veil from older English: the plural courses let speakers refer to menstruation without naming it. The word goes back to Latin currō, 'run', the same root behind the verb for flowing blood. It is obsolete now, so keep it for discussing older texts, as Gail Kern Paster does in The Body Embarrassed (1993), where she marks 'courses' off as the earlier era's own word.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Courses was a euphemistic plural term for menstruation. en.wiktionary.org
Course ultimately derives from Latin currō, meaning run, and the flowing-blood verb shares that root. en.wiktionary.org
Paster puts courses in quotation marks when discussing early modern menstruation. en.wiktionary.org
14
nounarchaic
The passing of one person to another in office or duty; the proper order or turn.
15
noun
In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the rows before and after it.
16
noun
One or more strings on instruments such as the guitar, lute, or vihuela, closely spaced when paired and tuned in unison or octaves to sound together.
17
noun
The lowest square sail on a fully rigged mast, usually named after the mast that carries it.
18
nounIndia
The drive or roadway customarily used by Europeans for riding and walking at a station in colonial India.
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!
1853, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of course apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

A Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to run" ultimately became Latin currō ("run"), which gave rise to cursus ("course of a race"). This became Old French cours, borrowed into Middle English as cours and inherited by modern English as course.