cursive
Americanadjective
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(of handwriting) in flowing strokes with the letters joined together.
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Printing. in flowing strokes resembling handwriting.
noun
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cursives
plural
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a cursive letter or character.
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Printing. a style of typeface simulating handwriting.
adjective
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of or relating to handwriting in which letters are formed and joined in a rapid flowing style
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printing of or relating to typefaces that resemble handwriting
noun
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a cursive letter or printing type
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a manuscript written in cursive letters
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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cursivenessnoun
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noncursiveadjective
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transcursiveadjective
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cursivelyadverb
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noncursivelyadverb
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transcursivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cursive
1775–85; < Medieval Latin cursīvus flowing (said of penmanship), equivalent to Latin curs ( us ) (past participle of currere to run) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Cursive is a style of writing in which all the letters in a word are connected. It's also known as script or longhand. When the third-grade students learned cursive writing, they were excited to find that they could write entire words without lifting their pencil from the paper. Cursive comes from the past participle of the Latin word currere, which means "to run." In cursive handwriting, the letters all run into one another and the hand runs across the page, never lifting between letters. Every time a document asks for your signature at the bottom of a document, you are meant to use this flowing cursive writing style.
Vocabulary lists containing cursive
Make a Run for It: Cur, Curs
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Frindle
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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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:
Her conviction showed in the careful way she packed away every piece, writing my name in her distinctive cursive script across the top of each box.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The new typeface really does fit the moment, a time when anything in full cursive is kind of washed and outdated, and soon, no one will be able to read it anyway.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
His custom designs range variously include the Miesha name, a half-lady ghost-butterfly, splattered imagery, quotes in cursive and barbed wire lettering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Her legal team argued that the way Cathay Home has styled the word "Swift" in its branding closely resembled the singer's trademarked cursive signature.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
The one on my right—the name stenciled in cursive on his chest was BUCK—slapped me too hard on the shoulder and said, “Looks like you struck out, huh?”
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
While Loi Che Chan does employ Chinese, she revives extravagantly illegible cursives as old as the eighth century.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 11, 2019
They worked obsessively, perfecting their lettering, their cursives, and their lines.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 10, 2015
It is discovered that there was no uncial period through which the genealogy of cursives has necessarily passed.
From The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels by John William Burgon
Three out of the four cursives belong to Professor Ferrar's group.
From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
Some critics will of course insist that, on the contrary, both words are spurious accretions to the text of the cursives; and they must say so, if they will.
From The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels by John William Burgon
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
