excursus
Americannoun
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excursuses,
plural
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excursus
plural
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a detailed discussion of some point in a book, especially one added as an appendix.
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a digression or incidental excursion, as in a narrative.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of excursus
1795–1805; < Latin: a running out, sally, digression, derivative of excurrere to run out. See ex- 1, course
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:
Especially trying is Book Six’s 400-plus page excursus into Hitler and the etiology of the Third Reich.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2018
Following an excursus into the world of poststructuralist theory at Yale and in Paris, he switched his field to political science and received his Ph.D. from Harvard’s government department.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 27, 2018
There are graph-like illustrations, circles, arrows, number lines, maps and even an irrelevant excursus about an outmoded text editor called Kedit.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2017
At the start of the novel “A Heart So White,” from 1992, the mysterious suicide of a newlywed is followed by an excursus on the nature of marital intimacy.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 8, 2016
I have no doubt that the comparison of Gil Blas and Don Quixote has often been made, and it would be rather an excursus here.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by George Saintsbury
His process involves a series of sketches, long textual excursuses and model-making with his team.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2020
BECKER, W. A.—Gallus: or Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus; with notes and excursuses illustrative of the manners and customs of the Romans.
From A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700 (Vol 1 of 3) Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe by Various
His commentaries, and especially some of the longer excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the philosophy of religion.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
Illustrations of the Private Life of the Ancient Greeks with notes and excursuses.
From A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700 (Vol 1 of 3) Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe by Various
M. Cosquin, in his "Contes populaires de Lorraine," the storehouse of "storiology," has elaborate excursuses in this class of tales attached to his Nos. x. and xx.
From Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
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.
