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

Thousands of global investors now have their money stuck in these tokens with little to no recourse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Otherwise, Berman said, if an out-of-state doctor commits “malpractice or negligence, there’s no recourse for the California patient.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

Another imponderable in the event of, say, a two-year ineligibility is recourse to the highest court of appeal, the Cour de Cassation.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Havana Docks was left without legal recourse for the seizure, until Congress passed the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, which recognized some potential claims for companies in Havana Docks’ situation.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

Now, laid open, she had no recourse but to hurry along the tunnel of her anger, headlong.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

"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

Still, it gave them none of the recourses available to whistleblowers at other federal law enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S.

From Washington Times ● May 30, 2023

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

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2021

Still further, the slaves had recourses of their own, even aside from appeals for legal redress.

From American Negro Slavery A Survey of the Supply, Employment and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime by Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell

Related Words

• remedy