recourse

American  

[ree-kawrs, -kohrs, ri-kawrs, -kohrs] / ˈri kɔrs, -koʊrs, rɪˈkɔrs, -ˈkoʊrs /

noun

• recourses
  plural

1. access or resort to a person or thing for help or protection.

   to have recourse to the courts for justice.

2. a person or thing resorted to for help or protection.

3. the right to collect from a maker or endorser of a negotiable instrument. The endorser may add the words “without recourse” on the instrument, thereby transferring the instrument without assuming any liability.

---

recourse British  

/ rɪˈkɔːs /

noun

1. the act of resorting to a person, course of action, etc, in difficulty or danger (esp in the phrase have recourse to )

2. a person, organization, or course of action that is turned to for help, protection, etc

3. the right to demand payment, esp from the drawer or endorser of a bill of exchange or other negotiable instrument when the person accepting it fails to pay

4. a qualified endorsement on such a negotiable instrument, by which the endorser protects himself or herself from liability to subsequent holders

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• recourses
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of recourse

1350–1400; Middle English recours < Old French < Late Latin recursus, Latin: return, retreat, noun use of past participle of recurrere to run back; see recur

---

Explanation

Recourse is a source of help. If you're failing trigonometry in spite of studying until your brain hurts, you may have no recourse but to hire a tutor. Recourse comes from the Latin word recursus, meaning “to run back or retreat.” People seek recourse from such difficulties as debt, illness and legal woes, so you can think of recourse as the words "retreating from curses" squished together. For the record, though, the cursus in recursus means course, not curse. Actually, no one knows where the word curse comes from. There may be some connection between cursus and curses, but then again, there may not be.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recourse recourses

Do my daughters have any legal recourse to recover the $20,000 their grandmother intended for their college education?

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

Established in 1992, the Mercury Prize was envisaged as an antidote to the commercially-focused Brit Awards, recognising albums that moved music forwards, without recourse to fashion or trends.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Those people won’t have much recourse after the recent rulings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

"Etihad will seek the relevant legal counsel on the options and recourse available to protect its interests."

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

“The rats fight well in close range. But if we attack from afar, they have no recourse but to run. Of all things, they wish a way to kill us at a distance,” said Luxa.

From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins

"There is no doubt whatsoever that the bank will fight this case and use all recourses available to it," it said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025

“If they over-excavated, and if they’re not going to do anything about it, what are my recourses? I don’t know.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025

Ms. Rozin warned that the district “will diligently pursue with equal vigor all legal recourses against frivolous litigation.”

From Washington Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

There are few recourses against false lawsuits other than penalizing lawyers for filing them.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2021

Chaucer mentions the irregularity of planetary movements in Boethius also when he says: “and whiche sterre in hevene useth wandering recourses, y-flit by dyverse speres.”

From Astronomical Lore in Chaucer by Florence M. Grimm

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• remedy

---