recourse

[ ree-kawrs, -kohrs, ri-kawrs, -kohrs ]

noun

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

/ 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. without recourse
   without recourse a qualified endorsement on such a negotiable instrument, by which the endorser protects himself or herself from liability to subsequent holders

Word History and Origins

Origin of recourse¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of recourse¹

C14: from Old French recours , from Late Latin recursus a running back, from re- + currere to run

Example Sentences

Companies like Uber pay their drivers low wages, require workers to report to unpredictable systems run by algorithms, and have very little legal recourse and access to their own data if they have a problem, Mozilla’s report says.

From Fortune

In a fresh respite for professionals and businesses who would until now take recourse to Instagram to publicize their business, LinkedIn stories have arrived to help professionals share their on-the-fly moments.

From Search Engine Watch

Your only recourse then is to beat the tightness into submission.

From Popular-Science

Nikola responded the following day, saying the report contained “false and misleading statements” and that it had hired counsel to “evaluate potential legal recourse.”

From Fortune

Before the rule change, federal law didn't address the issue of emotional support animals, so airlines had little recourse but to accommodate them.

From Washington Post

What recourse would they have to prove that they should be eligible for release?

From The Daily Beast

I know that it might get nowhere, but this is my only recourse.

From The Daily Beast

Had the board decided to give Eich a few weeks to prove himself, those who disagreed would have had no recourse.

From The Daily Beast

They, according to one juror, who spoke to Nightline, believed Dunn had no recourse but to shoot.

From The Daily Beast

However well-intentioned, we are not sure that this bill would be the most effective means of recourse.

From The Daily Beast

The men, whose poniards his sword parried, had recourse to fire-arms, and two pistols were fired at him.

From Project Gutenberg

To such persons does he open the doors to pay them, while they are shut on the wretched owners without recourse.

From Project Gutenberg

Then we blotted out the fire, and, stretching ourselves on the ground, had recourse to the solace of tobacco.

From Project Gutenberg

No other remedy remained but the application of force, and convinced of this, it had recourse to revolution.

From Project Gutenberg

When we wish to regulate the admission of light to our rooms we have recourse to very clumsy contrivances.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• remedy