intercourse
pronunciation
How to pronounce intercourse in British English:
UK [ˈɪntəkɔːs]
How to pronounce intercourse in American English:
US [ˈɪntərkɔːrs]
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- Noun:
- communication between individuals
- the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur
Word Origin
- intercourse (n.)
- mid-15c., "communication to and fro," from Old French entrecours "exchange, commerce," from Late Latin intercursus "a running between, intervention," from intercursus, past participle of intercurrere "to run between," from Latin inter- "between" (see inter-) + currere "to run" (see current (adj.)). Meaning "sexual relations" first recorded 1798, from earlier sense "social contact and relations" (1540s).
Synonym
Example
- 1. It made commerce and travel possible , allowing intercourse between separate ethnic and religious groups .
- 2. He did not allow the difference between our ages to be any bar to my free intellectual and sentimental intercourse with him .
- 3. Psychologists and social scientists have spent many years studying every detail of social intercourse between men and women .
- 4. The size of its population coupled with its secure frontiers and relative abundance of resources , allows it to develop with minimal intercourse with the rest of the world , if it chooses .
- 5. In fact , far from failing , the overall lowering of " barriers to intercourse " over the past 25 years has delivered wealth and freedom on a dramatic scale .