couple

American  

[kuhp-uhl] / ˈkʌp əl /

noun

• couples
  plural

1. two of the same sort considered together; pair.

2. two persons considered as joined together, as a married or engaged pair, lovers, or dance partners.

   They make a handsome couple.

3. any two persons considered together.

4. Mechanics. a pair of equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions and tending to produce rotation.

5. Also called couple-close. Carpentry. a pair of rafters connected by a tie beam or collar beam.

6. a leash for holding two hounds together.

7. Fox Hunting. two hounds.

   25 hounds or 12½ couple.

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verb (used with object)

• couples,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coupled,
  past participle,  past
• coupling
  present participle

1. to fasten, link, or associate together in a pair or pairs.

2. to join; connect.

3. to unite in marriage or in sexual union.

4. Electricity.

   1. to join or associate by means of a coupler.

   2. to bring (two electric circuits or circuit components) close enough to permit an exchange of electromagnetic energy.

verb (used without object)

• couples,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coupled,
  past participle,  past
• coupling
  present participle

1. to join in a pair; unite.

2. to copulate.

idioms

1. a couple of, more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a few: Also a couple.

   It will take a couple of days for the package to get there.

   A dinner party, whether for a couple of old friends or eight new acquaintances, takes nearly the same amount of effort.

couple British  

/ ˈkʌpəl /

noun

1. two people who regularly associate with each other or live together

   an engaged couple

2. (functioning as singular or plural) two people considered as a pair, for or as if for dancing, games, etc

3. hunting

   1. a pair of collars joined by a leash, used to attach hounds to one another

   2. two hounds joined in this way

   3. the unit of reckoning for hounds in a pack

      twenty and a half couple

4. a pair of equal and opposite parallel forces that have a tendency to produce rotation with a torque or turning moment equal to the product of either force and the perpendicular distance between them

5. physics

   1. two dissimilar metals, alloys, or semiconductors in electrical contact, across which a voltage develops See thermocouple

   2. Also called: galvanic couple. two dissimilar metals or alloys in electrical contact that when immersed in an electrolyte act as the electrodes of an electrolytic cell

6. a connector or link between two members, such as a tie connecting a pair of rafters in a roof

7. (functioning as singular or plural)

   1. a combination of two; a pair of

      a couple of men

   2. informal a small number of; a few

      a couple of days

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pronoun

1. (usually preceded by a; functioning as singular or plural) two; a pair

   give him a couple

verb

1. (tr) to connect (two things) together or to connect (one thing) to (another)

   to couple railway carriages

2. (tr) to do (two things) simultaneously or alternately

   he couples studying with teaching

3. to form or be formed into a pair or pairs

4. to associate, put, or connect together

   history is coupled with sociology

5. to link (two circuits) by electromagnetic induction

6. (intr) to have sexual intercourse

7. to join or be joined in marriage; marry

8. (tr) to attach (two hounds to each other)

Grammar

The phrase a couple of, meaning “a small number of; a few; several,” has been in standard use for centuries, especially with measurements of time and distance and in referring to amounts of money: They walked a couple of miles in silence. Repairs will probably cost a couple of hundred dollars. The phrase is used in all but the most formal speech and writing. The shortened phrase a couple, without of ( The gas station is a couple miles from here ), is an Americanism of recent development that occurs chiefly in informal speech or representations of speech, especially when followed by number terms (as a couple dozen eggs ) or units of measurement (as a couple years ago; a couple gallons of gas ). This use of couple (as an adjective or modifier) is still disliked by many. Without a following noun, a couple is even more informal: Jack shouldn't drive. It's clear he's had a couple. (Here the noun drinks is omitted.) In referring to two people, couple, like many collective nouns, may take either a singular or a plural verb. Most commonly, it is construed as a plural: The couple were traveling to Texas. See also collective noun.

Synonym Usage

See pair ¹

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coupleable
  adjective
• intercouple
  adjective
• well-coupled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• couples
  plural

Participles

• coupling
  present
• coupled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• couple
  simple
• couples
  simple
• have coupled
  perfect
• has coupled
  perfect
• am coupling
  progressive
• are coupling
  progressive
• is coupling
  progressive
• have been coupling
  perfect progressive
• has been coupling
  perfect progressive

Past

• coupled
  simple
• had coupled
  perfect
• was coupling
  progressive
• were coupling
  progressive
• had been coupling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will couple
  simple
• will have coupled
  perfect
• will be coupling
  progressive
• will have been coupling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of couple

First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English, from Anglo-French c(o)uple, Old French cople, cuple, from Latin cōpula “a tie, bond” ( see copula); (verb) Middle English couplen, from Anglo-French co(u)pler, Old French copler, cupler, from Latin copulāre ( see copulate)

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Explanation

If you are hanging out with a couple of friends, you are hanging out with two friends. A couple is a pair or a twosome. As a verb, couple means "to pair or match." As a noun, couple means "a pair." If two people are dating, you can refer to them as "a couple." Similarly, two people who are married can be called a "married couple." Two guys playing basketball can be called "a couple of guys playing basketball." As a verb, couple means "to pair or combine," as people on a dance floor might couple or form pairs when the music starts. You can also couple two ideas by combining them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

couple couples coupled coupling

One time a married couple who were staying for a week brought their two big German shepherds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

McMaster is the longest-serving governor in South Carolina history, and he leaves office in a couple months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

But for the next couple of nights in L.A., a genuinely beguiling and astringent new rock band is at the height of its powers and has captured the zeitgeist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

A couple of hundred fans gathered beneath the market's Victorian roof, some having made the trip specifically for the event while others stopped to see what the fuss was about.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

“I’ve seen you and James Wong walking past the Plaza a couple of times.”

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Both couples faced questions like: Who is this person I married or how am I responding to who they are at this moment?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

The biggest news from the rules, issued last week, is that the Treasury Department is letting married couples filing jointly claim a $3,400 credit for their donations to scholarship organizations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

In the 30 years since I’ve started, I’ve seen how things turned out for hundreds of those couples.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

She told the Conservatives' annual conference that "nobody will ever pay inheritance tax on their family home" and couples will be able to leave an additional £1m tax free.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

She and Bunny had a relationship the likes of which I had seldom seen except in couples married for twenty years or more, a relationship which vacillated between the touching and the annoying.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

The sharp rise in short-dated Treasury yields coupled with a decline in long-dated ones after Wednesday’s September consumer-price inflation print suggest that risk sentiment is fragile, the chief rates strategist says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

This, coupled with a strong dollar, has prompted investors to pull money from emerging markets such as India in search of higher returns in dollar assets.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

"By combining complementary X-ray techniques at LCLS, this work provides a uniquely complete view of these coupled processes, opening new opportunities to understand and ultimately control the chemistry that underpins energy conversion and catalysis."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

The benchmark refining margin is at unseen levels of around $40 a barrel, which, coupled with trading, will drive downstream earnings, she adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

But unlike Claudia, who had taken weeks to carefully plan out every aspect of her escape, Fadi was flying by the seat of his pants, coupled with a whole lot of praying.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

"With further optimization of cavity structures and material systems, vacuum-fluctuation coupling may enable more pronounced and widely applicable control of quantum states," said Prof. Zeng.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026

People pay a premium for iPhones because they perceive value in the tight coupling of hardware, software and apps inside Apple’s ecosystem.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

The other is the Zeeman effect, which describes the coupling between the magnetic field and electron spin.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026

“Asmodeus” is a bewildering incantation about the coupling of poetry and squalor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Harry only stopped staring at this unlikely coupling when he walked right into a suit of armor.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

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