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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the syllabus today is at a tipping point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 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
"The time is now right for a review of the syllabus," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
"A useful and enriching knowledge of Christianity and more widely the world's main religious and philosophical traditions, studied with academic rigour, will be the ambition of the new syllabus."
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
“We haven’t gotten to that book on the syllabus yet,” I say.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
At present, Open Syllabus Explorer searches more than 1 million syllabuses dating back to 2000, cross-referenced with 20 million texts, to produce data on how often a text is taught.
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
A version of this review appears in print on April 8, 2014, on page C4 of the with the headline: Bach Is on the Spring Syllabus.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2014
Gradually, this informal history grew into a course of study, constructed by the High Organ, which became known as Syllabus A, involving two years of lectures on the ANC and the liberation struggle.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
To ensure the classes actually meet that objective, professors will have to make their syllabi publicly available.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
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
It is expected to add to the confusion of the first days of classes, a time when students typically make last-minute adjustments to schedules and professors review syllabi and outline class expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
Only a dozen or so students are there, fumbling with notebooks and syllabi.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
And it’s not just judges; it’s the litigants, the lawyers, the law professors who have to tear up their syllabuses.
From Slate ● May 14, 2024
Since then, some high school teachers have also included the book in their syllabuses.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
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
The notification will come through syllabuses, email, newsletters and learning management systems, per the policy.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2022
Very careful syllabuses were prepared and widely circulated, and the whole scheme was intended to be educational rather than directly propagandist.
From The History of the Fabian Society by Pease, Edward R.
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.
