in the course of

1. Also, during the course of. In the process or progress of, as in the famous phrase from the Declaration of Independence (1776), “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands ...” These phrases have been criticized as needlessly wordy (in or during alone are adequate), but they have an emphatic rhythm that keeps them alive. [Mid-1600s]

Example Sentences

United States, the Supreme Court case that conferred immunity from prosecution for presidents committing crimes in the course of their official duties, the prospect of a president ordering Seal Team Six to carry out assassinations of political opponents was raised to illustrate the breadth of powers being considered.

From Salon

In the course of making a very bad, legacy-defining choice, Disney managed to strengthen at least one of them.

From Salon

In the course of establishing one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild animal behavior at what is now Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, she gave her chimp subjects names instead of numbers, a practice that raised eyebrows in the male-dominated field of primate studies in the 1960s.

From Los Angeles Times

Lacka pinched several children dozens of times in the course of one day, causing them to cry and flinch away from her, the Crown Prosecution Service previously said.

From BBC

South Carolina also complained that in the 1860 election, northerners elected “a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery” and who has publicly declared that “ ‘Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,’ and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.”

From Slate