intercourse
Americannoun
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intercourses
plural
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sexual intercourse, especially coitus.
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dealings or communication between individuals, groups, countries, etc.
- Synonyms:
- traffic, trade, commerce, sexual relations, sex act, sex, relations, copulation
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interchange of thoughts, feelings, etc.
noun
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communication or exchange between individuals; mutual dealings
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of intercourse
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English intercurse, from Medieval Latin intercursus “communication, trading,” Latin “a running between, interposition”; see inter-, course
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.
See Examples For:
It can cause extreme pain during periods, sexual intercourse and bowel movements, as well as pelvic pain, abdominal bloating, nausea and fatigue.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2025
We don’t think about it in those terms, of course, but that was the obvious point for early humans with little knowledge of gestation and a weak understanding of the role of intercourse in procreation.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2024
From dawn to dusk, observant Muslims the world over will refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual intercourse.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 10, 2024
As he warned, the “logical consequences of … a decision which elevates commercial intercourse … to the same plane as has been previously reserved for the free marketplace of ideas, are far reaching indeed.”
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2023
Arthur said: "After all, Galahad is only a child! He has growing pains, perhaps. I don’t think we ought to judge him unkindly for little faults of social intercourse."
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
In his intercourses with the queen of Scots as ambassador from Elizabeth, he had already shown himself her zealous partisan.
From Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth by Lucy Aikin
He declares, not only in his official communications here, but in his private intercourses with the members of the committee, that this clause is indispensably necessary to the security and negotiability of these demand notes.
From Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet An Autobiography. by John Sherman
But it was in the intercourses of social life that the superiority of Opposition was most incontestable.
From The American Quarterly Review No. XVIII, June 1831 (Vol 9) by Various
It is asserted, that they understand each other in their commercial intercourses.
From An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 1 by Alexander Hewatt
When I am silent upon a matter occurring in the usual intercourses of life where I might speak, nay, where we will suppose I ought to speak, I am at least guilty of dissimulation only.
From Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries Interspersed with Some Particulars Respecting the Author by William Godwin
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.
