syllabus
noun
an outline or other brief statement of the main points of a discourse, the subjects of a course of lectures, the contents of a curriculum, etc.
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MOE syllabus.
syllabus
American
[sil-uh-buhs]
/ ˈsɪl ə bəs /
noun
-
syllabuses,
plural
-
syllabi
plural
-
an outline or other brief statement of the main points of a discourse, the subjects of a course of lectures, the contents of a curriculum, etc.
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Law.
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a short summary of the legal basis of a court's decision appearing at the beginning of a reported case.
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a book containing summaries of the leading cases in a legal field, used especially by students.
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Also called Syllabus of Errors. (often initial capital letter) the list of 80 propositions condemned as erroneous by Pope Pius IX in 1864.
syllabus
1
British
/ ˈsɪləbəs /
noun
-
an outline of a course of studies, text, etc
-
-
the subjects studied for a particular course
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a document which lists these subjects and states how the course will be assessed
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Syllabus
2
British
/ ˈsɪləbəs /
noun
-
Also called: Syllabus of Errors. a list of 80 doctrinal theses condemned as erroneous by Pius IX in 1864
-
a list of 65 Modernist propositions condemned as erroneous by Pius X in 1907
Usage
Plural word for syllabus The plural form of syllabus can be either syllabuses or syllabi, pronounced [ sil-uh-bahy ], but syllabi is more widely used. The plurals of several other singular words ending in -us are also formed in this way, such as virus/viruses, sinus/sinuses, and walrus/walruses. Irregular plurals that are formed like syllabi, such as cactus/cacti and fungus/fungi, derive directly from their original pluralization in Latin. However, the standard English plural -es ending is often also acceptable for these terms, as in cactuses.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of syllabus
1650–60; < New Latin syllabus, syllabos, probably a misreading (in manuscripts of Cicero) of Greek síttybās, accusative plural of síttyba label for a papyrus roll
Explanation
A syllabus is a document that outlines everything that will be covered in a class. A syllabus for World Domination 101 might include: strategies for brainwashing the masses, creating an army on a budget, cultivating absolute certainty, and so on. The noun syllabus comes from the Late Latin word syllabus, meaning “list.” When you teach a class you may be required to make an outline of what you will expect the students to do in your class. That’s the syllabus. A syllabus could vaguely mention the topics that will be covered each week or it can be a detailed synopsis of every reading assignment, homework expectation, and exam question. Syllabus style is the teacher’s choice.
Vocabulary lists containing syllabus
Language Gone Wrong: Words That Started Out as Errors
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The Vocabulary of College
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Education and Academics, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But her thorough coursework and off-the-beaten-path syllabus of films opened my eyes to countless new ideas and perspectives.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
But the syllabus today is at a tipping point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
"The time is now right for a review of the syllabus," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
The sharp contrast between ancients and moderns, the tight syllabus of great books and the insistence that these books often bear cryptic meanings—all are Straussian signatures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
On the first day of class, Mrs. Curtis gave us our course syllabus.
From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Melanie Martin, a postdoc at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, used the Syllabus Explorer to identify the most commonly taught texts in her field, evolutionary anthropology.
From Nature ● Oct. 30, 2016
And the diaries they kept, a few of which appear in Syllabus, remained idiosyncratic: “Felt weird again at Trader Joe’s. Attended what I did not realise was a cotillion.”
From The Guardian ● May 14, 2015
Syllabus for the class can be found here.
From Forbes ● Dec. 12, 2014
A version of this review appears in print on April 8, 2014, on page C4 of the with the headline: Bach Is on the Spring Syllabus.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2014
Syllabus A included a course taught by Kathy, “A History of the Indian Struggle.”
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
To ensure the classes actually meet that objective, professors will have to make their syllabi publicly available.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
Students hesitate before volunteering their opinions in class, while faculty appear more cautious, even including disclaimers in their syllabi.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2025
While most of his peers were still swapping syllabi and feeling out new professors, Mahdawi had started his day not in a classroom, but in immigration court—virtually, on Webex.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2025
After UW’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering suggested that professors put a land acknowledgment in their syllabi, Reges responded by crafting his own acknowledgment.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
Only a dozen or so students are there, fumbling with notebooks and syllabi.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
The story won the Paris Review’s 2013 Plimpton Prize for Fiction and has appeared on syllabuses at other universities.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
And it’s not just judges; it’s the litigants, the lawyers, the law professors who have to tear up their syllabuses.
From Slate ● May 14, 2024
By the spring of 2021, the College Board had hired a young scholar to direct the course’s development and began collecting college syllabuses.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2023
Discussion of new class schedules and syllabuses, and the excitement of students learning their friends were in the same course, filled the plaza between the Student Union Building and campus library Wednesday morning.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
Very careful syllabuses were prepared and widely circulated, and the whole scheme was intended to be educational rather than directly propagandist.
From The History of the Fabian Society by Edward R. Pease
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
