1. a source of help in a difficult situation: "surgery may be the only recourse"
▪ the use of (someone or something) as a source of help in a difficult situation: "a means of solving disputes without recourse to courts of law"
▪ the legal right to demand compensation or payment:"the bank has recourse against the exporter for losses incurred"
Word Originlate Middle English (also in the sense ‘running or flowing back’): from Old French recours, from Latin recursus, from re- ‘back, again’ + cursus ‘course, running’.