noun · neutral
couple
UK/ˈkʌp(ə)l/US/ˈkʌpəl/COU·ple
Band 5-6speakingtask2
two people who are in a romantic relationship or married; also used in 'a couple of' to mean a few.
Examples
“The couple celebrated their tenth anniversary last month.”
“I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
“They’re a lovely couple.”
Band 8 sentence
“Despite their busy careers, the couple prioritised spending quality time together, which strengthened their relationship.”
Collocations
- a married couple
- a young couple
- a couple of minutes/years
Word family
couple verbcoupled adjective / past participlecoupling noun
Common mistakes
They are couple.→They are a couple.
a couple people→a couple of people
Say it for a higher band
5two people→6pair→7+couple
Synonyms
pair
partners
Easily confused
pair
“She bought a pair of shoes.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Family & Relationships
Learn it with its set