[dahy-uh-lawg, -log] 
noun, verb -logued, -logu⋅ing.| 1. | conversation between two or more persons. |
| 2. | the conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc. |
| 3. | an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, esp. a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement. |
| 4. | a literary work in the form of a conversation: a dialogue of Plato. |
| 5. | to carry on a dialogue; converse. |
| 6. | to discuss areas of disagreement frankly in order to resolve them. |
| 7. | to put into the form of a dialogue. |
| di·a·logue or di·a·log (dī'ə-lôg', -lŏg') n.
v. tr. To express as or in a dialogue. v. intr.
[Middle English dialog, from Old French dialogue, from Latin dialogus, from Greek dialogos, conversation, from dialegesthai, to discuss; see dialect.] di'a·log'uer n. Usage Note: In recent years the verb sense of dialogue meaning "to engage in an informal exchange of views" has been revived, particularly with reference to communication between parties in institutional or political contexts. Although Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Carlyle used it, this usage today is widely regarded as jargon or bureaucratese. Ninety-eight percent of the Usage Panel rejects the sentence Critics have charged that the department was remiss in not trying to dialogue with representatives of the community before hiring the new officers. |
dialogue
in its widest sense, the recorded conversation of two or more persons, especially as an element of drama or fiction. As a literary form, it is a carefully organized exposition, by means of invented conversation, of contrasting philosophical or intellectual attitudes. The oldest known dialogues are the Sicilian mimes, written in rhythmic prose by Sophron of Syracuse in the early 5th century BC. Although none of these has survived, Plato knew and admired them. But the form of philosophic dialogue that he perfected by 400 BC was sufficiently original to be an independent literary creation. With due attention to characterization and the dramatic situation from which the discussion arises, it develops dialectically the main tenets of Platonic philosophy. To Lucian in the 2nd century AD the dialogue owes a new tone and function. His influential Dialogues of the Dead, with their coolly satirical tone, inspired innumerable imitations in England and France during the 17th and 18th centuries, e.g., dialogues by the French writers Bernard de Fontenelle (1683) and Francois Fenelon (1700-12).
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əˌlɔg