di·a·logue
or di·a·log
(dī́ə-lôǵ, -lŏǵ)
[Middle English dialog, from Old French dialogue, from Latin dialogus, from Greek dialogos, conversation, from dialegesthai, to discuss; see dialect.]
noun
- A conversation between two or more people.
- Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative.
- The lines or passages in a script that are intended to be spoken.
- A literary work written in the form of a conversation: the dialogues of Plato.
- Music A composition or passage for two or more parts, suggestive of conversational interplay.
- An exchange of ideas or opinions: achieving constructive dialogue with all political elements.
verb: -logued or -loged, -logu·ing or -log·ing, -logues or -logs
transitive verb
- To express as or in a dialogue.
intransitive verb
- To converse in a dialogue.
- Usage Problem To engage in an informal exchange of views.
derivatives
- día·loǵuer
- noun
usage note
Usage Note: In recent years the verb sense of dialogue meaning “to engage in an informal exchange of views” has been revived, particularly with reference to communication between parties in institutional or political contexts. Although Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Carlyle used it, this usage today is widely regarded as jargon or bureaucratese. Ninety-eight percent of the Usage Panel rejects the sentence Critics have charged that the department was remiss in not trying to dialogue with representatives of the community before hiring the new officers.
