Definition of "recourse" []

• The act or an instance of turning or applying to a person or thing for aid or security: have recourse to the courts. (noun)
• One that is turned or applied to for aid or security: His only recourse was the police. (noun)
• Law The right to demand payment from the endorser of a commercial paper when the first party liable fails to pay. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Most of all, I hope this does not distract from the issue I was asked about -- the desperate, tragic decision by some young people who feel that their only recourse is to take their own lives because they are being bullied or harassed because they are gay, or because others believe they are gay."
• "Is there either logic or morality in believing that if one side threatens to kill tens of millions of our people, our only recourse is to threaten killing tens of millions of theirs?"
• "Seems their only recourse is an attempt to belittle and it just does not work."