as in dating
the series of social engagements shared by a couple looking to get married
after two years of courting, they finally married
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in wooing
to act so as to make (something) more likely
you're courting disaster if you keep playing with matches
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in making love
to go on dates that may eventually lead to marriage
they courted for a year before getting married
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of courting
Stephen Whyno, Twin Cities, 17 Jan. 2026
Truth is, romance isn’t solely about the grand gestures and lavish courting.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 Jan. 2026
In addition to Air, the 2023 film about Nike’s courting of a young Michael Jordan, Convery is set to write the screenplay for The Tiger Slam, about Tiger Woods’ run of winning four consecutive major golf tournaments in 2000 and 2001.
—Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 9 Dec. 2025
As the red bird had never been observed courting, it was assumed female.
—Mikelle Street, Them., 4 Dec. 2025
As boundaries shrink and conventions blur, romantic rivalries continue to erupt—as do their possibilities onscreen, from the partner-sharing poignancy of Jules et Jim to the karmic relationships of Sex and the City to the competitive-courting of Challengers.
—John Ortved, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2025
By 1995, the BFC had streamlined the machinery of London Fashion Week and secured government funding for exhibitions, support for young designers, and the courting of overseas buyers.
—Time, 16 Oct. 2025
Instead, through the course of this play, the artificiality of 19th-century marital courting and the exaggerated heroism of war are gradually stripped away, allowing the characters’ true voices, true callings and true partners to eventually emerge.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Oct. 2025
Of course, the only reason Oracle is in this position is down to Ellison’s courting of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which has allowed his company, previously a distinct back-of-the-pack cloud company, to secure a massive stockpile of top-of-the-line Nvidia GPUs.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2026
Politicians, courting their support, aren’t far behind.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2026
Others are courting similar engagement.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 7 Jan. 2026
Which helps explain why, around this time of year, certain social media feeds are inundated with racy FYI posts by adult stars courting votes.
—Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 3 Jan. 2026
After years of quiet, the city is now courting the world again.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 1 Jan. 2026
While on the podcast, Swift reflected fondly on how Travis went about courting her.
—Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 31 Dec. 2025
Famed for launching Downton Abbey, the network has been courting sale interest for well over a year, but for all the industry chatter and press speculation, ITV’s silence has been stony.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 8 Nov. 2025
Chanel is said to be a key tenant that Swire is courting for the new location.
—Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 3 Nov. 2025
Noun
With the courting process complete, Harbaugh is now tasked with turning around the beleaguered franchise that has made just two playoff appearances over the past 12 years and not made it past the divisional round.
—Stephen Whyno, Twin Cities, 17 Jan. 2026
Truth is, romance isn’t solely about the grand gestures and lavish courting.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 Jan. 2026
In addition to Air, the 2023 film about Nike’s courting of a young Michael Jordan, Convery is set to write the screenplay for The Tiger Slam, about Tiger Woods’ run of winning four consecutive major golf tournaments in 2000 and 2001.
—Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 9 Dec. 2025
As the red bird had never been observed courting, it was assumed female.
—Mikelle Street, Them., 4 Dec. 2025
As boundaries shrink and conventions blur, romantic rivalries continue to erupt—as do their possibilities onscreen, from the partner-sharing poignancy of Jules et Jim to the karmic relationships of Sex and the City to the competitive-courting of Challengers.
—John Ortved, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2025
By 1995, the BFC had streamlined the machinery of London Fashion Week and secured government funding for exhibitions, support for young designers, and the courting of overseas buyers.
—Time, 16 Oct. 2025
Instead, through the course of this play, the artificiality of 19th-century marital courting and the exaggerated heroism of war are gradually stripped away, allowing the characters’ true voices, true callings and true partners to eventually emerge.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Oct. 2025
Of course, the only reason Oracle is in this position is down to Ellison’s courting of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which has allowed his company, previously a distinct back-of-the-pack cloud company, to secure a massive stockpile of top-of-the-line Nvidia GPUs.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
Verb
Despite his layered duplicity, Jonathan understands and defines himself by courting risk.
—Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2026
Politicians, courting their support, aren’t far behind.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2026
Others are courting similar engagement.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 7 Jan. 2026
Which helps explain why, around this time of year, certain social media feeds are inundated with racy FYI posts by adult stars courting votes.
—Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 3 Jan. 2026
After years of quiet, the city is now courting the world again.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 1 Jan. 2026
While on the podcast, Swift reflected fondly on how Travis went about courting her.
—Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 31 Dec. 2025
Famed for launching Downton Abbey, the network has been courting sale interest for well over a year, but for all the industry chatter and press speculation, ITV’s silence has been stony.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 8 Nov. 2025
Chanel is said to be a key tenant that Swire is courting for the new location.
—Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 3 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for courting
Noun
-
Synch’s bet is that by pairing a coach like Lily with deeper compatibility modeling, online dating can start to feel closer to a thoughtful, real‑world introduction than an endless catalog of faces.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Transforming the Human Touch Beyond fraud, dating, academics, and email writing, a subtler form of the AI intermediary is popping up in offices around the world.—
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
And a whole succession of leaders from countries that are nominally still American allies — Britain, Germany, South Korea — are wooing rather than shunning Beijing to deepen economic cooperation.—
Andreas Kluth,
Twin Cities,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Greivis Vasquez, the key to Toronto wooing Kevin Durant.—
Zach Harper,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Courting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/courting. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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