1 cou·ple
Pronounced:
/ˈkʌpəl/
Function:
nounInflected forms:
plural couplesMeaning:
[count] 1 : two people who are married or who have a romantic or sexual relationship ▪ a happily married couple ▪ “Are they a couple?” “No, they are just good friends.” ▪ Seventeen couples participated in the survey. ▪ The romance had gone out of their relationship, so they signed up for couples therapy. [=therapy in which a psychologist helps couples solve problems with their relationships]
2 : two people or things that are together : pair —usually used in the phrase in couples ▪ The people were lined up in couples.
2 : two people or things that are together : pair —usually used in the phrase in couples ▪ The people were lined up in couples.
a couple
informal 1 : two or a few of something ▪ Can you give me a couple more examples? ▪ This one costs a couple less dollars than that one. ◊In informal U.S. English, a couple can be used like a couple of before a plural noun. ▪ I lost interest in the book after a couple chapters. ▪ We owned a couple dogs. ▪ We stopped for a couple drinks after work. It is often used with periods of time and numbers. ▪ I saw the movie a couple nights ago. ▪ We met a couple years ago. ▪ I took a couple weeks off. ▪ a couple hundred people ▪ a couple dozen
2 : two or a few ▪ “How many drinks have you had?” “Oh, just a couple.”
2 : two or a few ▪ “How many drinks have you had?” “Oh, just a couple.”
a couple of
: two of or a few of : two (things) or a few (things) ▪ It happened a couple of days ago. [=two days ago] ▪ I only had a couple of sips. ▪ Can you loan me a couple of dollars? ▪ I have a couple of favorite restaurants I go to. ▪ I'll be ready in a couple of minutes. [=I'll be ready soon] ▪ Our schedule is booked solid for the next couple of weeks. [=for the next two weeks] ▪ They've lost the last/previous couple of games.
—cou·ple·dom /ˈkʌpəldəm/ noun [noncount] ▪ They are breaking up after eight years of coupledom. [=after eight years of being a couple]
/ˈkʌpəldəm/ noun [noncount] ▪ They are breaking up after eight years of coupledom. [=after eight years of being a couple]