1
as in expressed
to convey in appropriate or telling terms
I'm trying to couch this delicately: I don't think we should date anymore
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of couched
Thursday’s announcement was couched in terms of cost.
—
John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 13 Feb. 2026
And even then, it was couched in the polite, ambiguous language.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2026
Even My Dying Bride, Warning’s closest spiritual antecedent, have always couched their little-r romantic songs in a lot of big-R Romanticism—the blood, the wine, the roses, and other such gothic Byronisms.
—Brad Sanders, Pitchfork, 17 Jan. 2026
Still, some constitutional violations can also be couched as civil wrongdoings under the FTCA.
—Aysha Bagchi, USA Today, 17 Jan. 2026
Their statements are simply a summary of the law, although couched with political speech.
—Michael Szalma, The Orlando Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2026
To be clear, revenue share contracts are couched as an intellectual property transaction with the school buying a license to use the athlete’s NIL.
—Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 8 Jan. 2026
Sometimes the case for war’s inevitability is couched in expressions of rue and reluctance.
—Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Usually, the question was couched in politeness, but my students (bless them) had not yet learned to be subtle.
—Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 13 Feb. 2026
And even then, it was couched in the polite, ambiguous language.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2026
Even My Dying Bride, Warning’s closest spiritual antecedent, have always couched their little-r romantic songs in a lot of big-R Romanticism—the blood, the wine, the roses, and other such gothic Byronisms.
—Brad Sanders, Pitchfork, 17 Jan. 2026
Still, some constitutional violations can also be couched as civil wrongdoings under the FTCA.
—Aysha Bagchi, USA Today, 17 Jan. 2026
Their statements are simply a summary of the law, although couched with political speech.
—Michael Szalma, The Orlando Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2026
To be clear, revenue share contracts are couched as an intellectual property transaction with the school buying a license to use the athlete’s NIL.
—Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 8 Jan. 2026
Sometimes the case for war’s inevitability is couched in expressions of rue and reluctance.
—Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Usually, the question was couched in politeness, but my students (bless them) had not yet learned to be subtle.
—Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for couched
Verb
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The post has garnered 161,000 likes and more than 2,600 comments, many of which expressed sympathy for the bot.—
Karen Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
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Two other banks, Bank of America and RBC Capital Markets, also expressed worries about AI capex recently.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The cameraman darted and crouched, arguably working harder than anyone else in the building to capture those breathless, in-your-face angles.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
11 Feb. 2026
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Around the grave of one young man, his mother and grandmother quietly sob, his friends crouched down by the small mat of flower stems.—
Frederik Pleitgen,
CNN Money,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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But at some public schools, the woman from Rasht said, absences aren't tolerated and students found with pellet wounds are expelled or arrested.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
17 Feb. 2026
-
The board said Wasserman fully cooperated with the review.—
Teresa Liu,
Daily News,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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At the end of last week, after another long day of talks in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine’s envoys huddled around a phone for a call with their boss, who was waiting in Kyiv to hear their report.—
Simon Shuster,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2026
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By halftime, Gabby was huddled against her fiancé, barely watching the match.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Explain the mechanism that Washington used to compel quarterback Demond Williams to return because the consequences were too onerous to ignore, like LSU losing out on $4 million in NIL for 2026 or however it’s phrased.—
Jon Wilner,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
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This suggests that the models’ internal beliefs are skewed based on how questions are phrased, or by their topics.—
Chara Podimata,
Time,
21 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Superintendent Theresa Plascencia expressed several of the same feelings articulated by Bonuma in an email on Monday, praising Hill’s talents as a leader and his connection to the students under his charge.—
Steve Sadin,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Feb. 2026
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And Lewis has not, until now, articulated his strategy for the paper's future.—
David Folkenflik,
NPR,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Donations are gratefully accepted to support future cultural events, the news release stated.—
News Release,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Feb. 2026
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But the district stated that its actions on the walkouts have no ideology attached.—
Howard Blume,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The first claim drew a swift, if carefully worded, denial from the school, followed months later by Hudson’s threat of litigation, which has yet to materialize.—
Daniel Libit,
Sportico.com,
17 Dec. 2025
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The 2010 exemption specifically targeted Jackson County and was worded to apply only to charter counties with populations between 600,000 and 700,000 people, a population level Jackson County has now surpassed.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
23 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Couched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/couched. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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