Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An outline or a summary of the main points of a text, lecture, or course of study.
  • noun Law A summary or abstract of the legal rulings contained in a published judicial case opinion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A compendium containing the heads of a discourse, the main propositions of a course of lectures, etc.; an abstract; a table of statements contained in any writing, of a scheme of lessons, or the like.
  • noun In the Roman Catholic Church, a summary statement and enumeration of the points decided by an act or decree of ecclesiastical authority; specifically, a catalogue formulating eighty heresies condemned by Pope Pius IX. in 1864, annexed to the encyclical letter Quanta Cura. See the quotation.
  • noun Synonyms Compendium, Epitome. See abridgment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A compendium containing the heads of a discourse, and the like; an abstract.
  • noun (Law) The headnote of a reported case; the brief statement of the points of law determined prefixed to a reported case. The opinion controls the syllabus, the latter being merely explanatory of the former.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A summary of topics which will be covered during an academic course, or a text or lecture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an integrated course of academic studies

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin, probably alteration (influenced by Greek sullambanein, to put together) of Latin sillybus, parchment label, from Greek sillubos.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin syllabus ("list"), a misreading of sittybis or sillybis (ablative plural) in a 1470s edition of Cicero's "Ad Atticum" iv.5 and 8. This misprint of sittybis or sillybis as syllabis was later wrongly related to the Greek noun συλλαβή "syllable", but is actually from Ancient Greek σιττύβα (sittyba, "parchment label, table of contents") of unknown origin.

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Examples

  • And it may sound like an easy-A elective, but the syllabus is actually pretty rigorous.

    8 Things Everyone Needs To Know About Zombies 2010

  • Another issue I have with my syllabus is the fact that I've already changed an assignment due date once and am thinking of changing it again (all for good reasons), and I'm worried the students will think I'm a flake.

    Structured Time 2006

  • Another issue I have with my syllabus is the fact that I've already changed an assignment due date once and am thinking of changing it again (all for good reasons), and I'm worried the students will think I'm a flake.

    Archive 2006-09-01 2006

  • In British English, syllabus is often associated with particular subjects (language, mathematics, sciences) whereas curriculum collocates with national, core … and hidden (more on that one later).

    June « 2010 « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • A structural syllabus is a form-based syllabus, organized primarily according to criteria of structural complexity.

    S is for “Strategies” « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • A structural syllabus is a form-based syllabus, organized primarily according to criteria of structural complexity.

    March « 2010 « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • The syllabus is one aspect of this but curriculum is so so much more.

    C is for Curriculum « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • In British English, syllabus is often associated with particular subjects (language, mathematics, sciences) whereas curriculum collocates with national, core … and hidden (more on that one later).

    C is for Curriculum « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • The goal we found out is to translate a fancy routine story into a simple routine with the same story in syllabus steps.

    Archive 2008-10-01 HayleyM 2008

  • The goal we found out is to translate a fancy routine story into a simple routine with the same story in syllabus steps.

    Collegiate Ballroom Workshop HayleyM 2008

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