| English Dictionary |
COUPLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does couple mean?
• COUPLE (noun)
The noun COUPLE has 5 senses:
1. a pair who associate with one another
2. a pair of people who live together
3. a small indefinite number
4. two items of the same kind
5. (physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines
Familiarity information: COUPLE used as a noun is common.
• COUPLE (verb)
The verb COUPLE has 4 senses:
1. bring two objects, ideas, or people together
2. link together
3. form a pair or pairs
4. engage in sexual intercourse
Familiarity information: COUPLE used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A pair who associate with one another
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Synonyms:
Context example:
an inseparable twosome
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
pair (two people considered as a unit)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
same-sex marriage (two people of the same sex who live together as a family)
Derivation:
couple (form a pair or pairs)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A pair of people who live together
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Synonyms:
Context example:
a married couple from Chicago
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
power couple (a couple both of whom have high-powered careers or are politically influential)
DINK (a couple who both have careers and no children (an acronym for dual income no kids))
Derivation:
couple (engage in sexual intercourse)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A small indefinite number
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Context example:
he's coming for a couple of days
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
small indefinite amount; small indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Two items of the same kind
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Synonyms:
brace; couple; couplet; distich; duad; duet; duo; dyad; pair; span; twain; twosome; yoke
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
2; deuce; II; two (the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number)
Meronyms (parts of "couple"):
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
doubleton ((bridge) a pair of playing cards that are the only cards in their suit in the hand dealt to a player)
Derivation:
couple (bring two objects, ideas, or people together)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
building block; unit (a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else)
Meronyms (parts of "couple"):
moment of a couple (given two equal and opposite forces, the product of the force and the distance between them)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
dipole (a pair of equal and opposite electric charges or magnetic poles separated by a small distance)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it couples Past simple: coupled
Past participle: coupled
-ing form: coupling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Bring two objects, ideas, or people together
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
couple; match; mate; pair; twin
Context example:
The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
join (cause to become joined or linked)
Verb group:
match (give or join in marriage)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "couple"):
mismate (provide with an unsuitable mate)
mismatch (match badly; match two objects or people that do not go together)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
couple (two items of the same kind)
coupling (a connection (like a clamp or vise) between two things so they move together)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Link together
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
Context example:
can we couple these proposals?
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
attach (cause to be attached)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Antonym:
uncouple (disconnect or separate)
Derivation:
coupler; coupling (a mechanical device that serves to connect the ends of adjacent objects)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Form a pair or pairs
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Synonyms:
couple; pair; pair off; partner off
Context example:
The two old friends paired off
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
unify; unite (act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
couple (a pair who associate with one another)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Engage in sexual intercourse
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
Context example:
Birds mate in the Spring
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
conjoin; join (make contact or come together)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "couple"):
nick (mate successfully; of livestock)
bang; be intimate; bed; bonk; do it; eff; fuck; get it on; get laid; have a go at it; have intercourse; have it away; have it off; have sex; hump; jazz; know; lie with; love; make love; make out; roll in the hay; screw; sleep together; sleep with (have sexual intercourse with)
tread; serve; service (mate with)
deflower; ruin (deprive of virginity)
breed; cover (copulate with a female, used especially of horses)
bugger; sodomise; sodomize (practice anal sex upon)
sodomise; sodomize (copulate with an animal)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
couple (a pair of people who live together)
coupling (the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes)
Context examples
If you love your romantic partner but have difficulties, do all you can to treasure that love—couples’ therapy might help.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
There was a fellow with a wen in his neck, larger than five wool-packs; and another, with a couple of wooden legs, each about twenty feet high.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
They did not connect the couple with Jimmy, who sprang on the steps, crying to the motorman: Slam on the juice, old man, and beat it outa here!
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The anaerobic oxidation of methane was coupled to some extent with sulfate reduction.
(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)
On the other hand, the research team also identified brain regions that are more strongly 'de-coupled' from the rest of the network in more intelligent people.
(Smart People Have Better Connected Brains, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Researchers followed 501 couples attempting to conceive between 2005 and 2009 in Michigan and Texas.
(Air pollution exposure in early pregnancy linked to miscarriage, National Institutes of Health)
This suggests that Enceladus' ocean of liquid water might be only a couple of miles beneath this region — closer to the surface than previously thought.
(Cassini Sees Heat Below the Icy Surface of Enceladus, NASA)
These allowed the researchers to chemically couple the nanogels to bioactive molecules.
(Novel nanogels hold promise for improved drug delivery to cancer patients, National Science Foundation)
The good couple saw them no more; but everything went well with them from that time forward, as long as they lived.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
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