couple
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhpuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkʌpəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
Two items of the same kind
Two of the same kind connected or considered together.
informal
A small indefinite number
“He's coming for a couple of days.”
That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
verb
Link together
Bring two objects, ideas, or people together
“This fact is coupled to the other one.”
transitive
To join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).
transitive
To cause (two animals) to copulate, to bring (two animals) together for mating.
adjective
informaluscanada
Two or (a) small number of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
Used this way, couple is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Smallnoun
“He's coming for a couple of days.”
Bring / causeverb
“This fact is coupled to the other one.”
More ways to use couple
- “He's coming for a couple of days.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A connection (like a clamp or vise) between two things so they move together.
A mechanical device that serves to connect the ends of adjacent objects.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Link together.
Link together.
A couple both of whom have high-powered careers or are politically influential.
Two people who are married to each other.
Given two equal and opposite forces, the product of the force and the distance between them.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.