curriculum
Americannoun
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curricula,
plural
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curriculums
plural
-
the aggregate of courses of study given in a school, college, university, etc..
The school is adding more science courses to its curriculum.
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the regular or a particular course of study in a school, college, etc.
noun
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a course of study in one subject at a school or college
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a list of all the courses of study offered by a school or college
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any programme or plan of activities
Usage
Plural word for curriculum The plural form of curriculum can be either curricula or curriculums, although curricula is more commonly used. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -um are also formed in the same way, including memorandum/memoranda, and bacterium/bacteria. Irregular plurals that are formed like curricula derive directly from their original pluralization in Latin. However, the usual plural -s ending is often also acceptable for many of these terms, as in curriculums and memorandums.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of curriculum
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin: “action of running, course of action, race, chariot,” equivalent to curr(ere) “to run” + -i- -i- + -culum -cule 2
Explanation
A curriculum is a set of courses designed to give expertise, like the shoemaking curriculum at Shoe U: Advanced Cutting, Hammering, and Stitching; History of the Heel; and A Cultural History of Walking. Curriculum comes from the Latin word for "running course," or "career," but when we talk about curriculum it's always about school. If you go to a school with a Liberal Arts curriculum, you'll get an education in the humanities with some science, but if you go to a technical school with a hard-core astrophysics curriculum, you probably won't have to take any courses on poetry.
Vocabulary lists containing curriculum
The Vocabulary of College
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Make a Run for It: Cur, Curs
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Schooled
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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:
Far from trying “to steer judicial decisions,” our curriculum describes key legal issues in climate litigation as “open questions.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
These repeated half-term breaks and the long summer vacation mean French teachers have to squash their curriculum into 162 days per year, compared to 225 days in Germany for example, according to the OECD.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The curriculum, which started being developed in 2014 and is only being fully rolled out this academic year, gives schools freedom to design their own curricula.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
They have a "huge bag" full of textbooks and workbooks recommended by teachers before they left and they are following the UK teaching curriculum.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Eva goes to a Catholic school; her curriculum has always been a little different than mine.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
The curriculum, which started being developed in 2014 and is only being fully rolled out this academic year, gives schools freedom to design their own curricula.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
“The Art of Fighting” is a continuation on Parker’s curricula for all humans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Some say customers aren’t exactly paying for innovation, but rather for decades of familiarity on the educator side — along with textbooks that build the calculators into their curricula.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
The words “horsemanship” and “citizenship” appeared in schools’ curricula, along with — from a 1925 ad for King’s Military Academy in Highland Park — “gentlemanship.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
I know the answer to every question already, since I’ve studied the seventh- and eighth-grade curricula in Kunu Yaku.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
“To know that my work is part of curriculums and it’s read and studied.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Popular methodologies today for middle and high schools stress group work, projects, technology, and an oppressive focus on math and science curriculums.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Universities across the country went from teaching in classrooms to offering full-time curriculums online.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2024
She developed curriculums for students and teachers, organized conferences, and wrote scholarly articles and books to spread a gospel that resonated in progressive congregations and on college campuses.
From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
But form the plurals of others simply by adding s: curriculums; formulas; memorandums; stadiums.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
