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.
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.
-
Law.
-
a short summary of the legal basis of a court's decision appearing at the beginning of a reported case.
-
a book containing summaries of the leading cases in a legal field, used especially by students.
-
-
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
-
a document which lists these subjects and states how the course will be assessed
-
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:
According to the course syllabus, students examine questions such as: Who is responsible when a self-driving car injures someone or damages property?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
I revised the syllabus to accommodate the expanding model.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
At universities, the ban has restricted access to online research and course materials, with one Herat student saying he had used his phone to help with about half the syllabus.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Professors who are Luddites or have used the same syllabus for years sometimes struggle to get out of that state of inertia, Cook said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
On the first day of class, Mrs. Curtis gave us our course syllabus.
From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Over the past few years, our team at the Open Syllabus Project has collected and analyzed more than six million syllabuses from university websites.
From New York Times ● Oct. 19, 2019
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
Syllabus A included a course taught by Kathy, “A History of the Indian Struggle.”
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
So after faculty were urged to add land acknowledgments to their syllabi, Mr. Reges had a subversive idea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
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
Today that particular title is part of the American literary canon gracing course syllabi across the nation, while his other works have been recognized with a range of prestigious awards and honors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
I still have the syllabi from all my classes, and David’s been bringing me assignments.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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
The book that first lifted Caro to fame and made him a staple of journalism-school syllabuses is “The Power Broker,” his novelistic 1974 portrait of cutthroat New York city planner Robert Moses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2022
For those reaching the end of their career, though, the idea of rejiggering established syllabuses to teach the work product of this court may be too much to bear.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2022
They said they already post syllabuses, textbook information, course materials and sometimes notes for parents and students — at least at the middle- and high-school levels.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 12, 2022
Time-tables, schemes of work, syllabuses, record books, progress books, examination result books, and the rest,—hours and hours are spent by the teachers on the clerical work which these mechanical contrivances demand.
From What Is and What Might Be A Study of Education in General and Elementary Education in Particular by Edmond Holmes
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.
