concourse
Americannoun
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an assemblage; gathering.
a concourse of people.
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a driveway or promenade, especially in a park.
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a boulevard or other broad thoroughfare.
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a large open space for accommodating crowds, as in a railroad station.
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an area or grounds for racing, athletic sports, etc.
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an act or instance of running or coming together; confluence.
a concourse of events.
noun
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a crowd; throng
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a coming together; confluence
a concourse of events
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a large open space for the gathering of people in a public place
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a ground for sports, racing, athletics, etc
Etymology
Origin of concourse
1350–1400; Middle English concours < Middle French; replacing Middle English concurs < Latin concursus assembly, verbal noun corresponding to concurrere to assemble, collide. See concur, course
Explanation
The wide, open area that's either inside or in front of a building is called a concourse. A concourse is often located where many paths or hallways meet. Many kinds of buildings have a concourse, including train stations, airports, hotels, and shopping malls. Concourses are large enough for many people to congregate there — and this crowd or gathering of people can also be called a concourse. A movie star visiting a small city might find himself surrounded by a huge concourse of fans asking for autographs. The Latin root is concursus, "a running together," and the word's original sense was "the flowing of a crowd of people."
Vocabulary lists containing concourse
"Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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"Watership Down" by Richard Adams, Chapters 11-17
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Little Brother
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The massive collage occupies both sides of the concourse at Wilshire/La Brea and plays with time, place and light.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
There will be breastfeeding rooms, baby changing areas and 'buggy parks' for prams, as well as social spaces on the concourse to host events and underground car parking.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026
At Houston’s Hobby Airport, travelers said they missed flights Sunday after waiting for more than three hours in long lines that snaked around the length of the concourse.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026
Four staff were wounded at Dubai airport as a concourse sustained "minor damage", the facility's governing body said.
From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026
He paced the concourse, looking for the cousin he’d grown up with, a sharp-nosed girl with the grinning mouth of a comedy mask.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
