concourse means A large open space in or in front of a building where people can gather, particularly one joining various paths, as in a rail station or airport terminal, or providing access to and linking the platforms in a railway terminus. It carries an Arena rating of 1614, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, concourse ranks #1,360 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,565 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,728 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,048 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
concourse is pronounced /ˈkɒŋkɔː(ɹ)s/.
Why “concourse” is a great word
A large open area within or in front of a building, especially in a transportation hub, where people gather and paths converge. From Middle English concours, via Middle French from Latin concursus ("a running together, assembly"), from concurrere ("to run together"), first attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike a "lobby," which denotes a contained entrance hall or waiting room, or a "throng," which describes the crowd itself rather than the space that holds it, a concourse is architecture shaped by the vectors of human motion—the cathedral-vaulted hall of a railway station where commuters become tributaries, the marble sweep of an airport terminal where footfall wears soft grooves, or the plaza before a stadium where streets deposit their streams into one churning pool. It is the secular cathedral of transit, built not for stasis but for the beautiful, temporary violence of arrival and departure, a monument not to where we are, but to the fact that we are perpetually, collectively, passing through.
Etymology
From Middle English concours, from Middle French concours and its etymon Latin concursus, concursum, from concurrere (“to run together”). See concur. Doublet of concours.
noun
- A large open space in or in front of a building where people can gather, particularly one joining various paths, as in a rail station or airport terminal, or providing access to and linking the platforms in a railway terminus.
- An airport terminal.
- A large group of people; a crowd.
- The running or flowing together of things; the meeting of things; a confluence.e.g.“... there was only wanting the concourse of rains ...” — 1662, “Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World”, in Thomas Salusbury, transl., First Day:
- An open space, especially in a park, where several roads or paths meet.
- Concurrence; cooperation.e.g.“The divine providence is wont to afford its concourse to such proceeding.” — a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Va
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- concurrence 53% match — Agreement; concurring. vs concourse →
- court 53% match — An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley. vs concourse →
- congressive 52% match — Encountering, or coming together. vs concourse →
- consessus 52% match — An assembly or congregation of people, especially in religious contexts. vs concourse →
- congression 52% match — The act of coming together; congress. vs concourse →
- corridor 52% match — A narrow hall or passage with rooms leading off it, as in a building or in a railway carriage. vs concourse →
- convenery 52% match — A group of people assembled together, such as a convention, assembly, or congress. vs concourse →
- consuite 51% match — A hospitality room at a con (an organized gathering such as a convention, conference or congress). vs concourse →