1
: a pin to hold the hair in place
specifically
: a long U-shaped pin
2
: something shaped like a hairpin
specifically
: a sharp U-shaped turn in a road
: having the shape of a hairpin
a hairpin turn
also
: having hairpin turns
a steep hairpin road
Examples of hairpin in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 14 Apr. 2025
Another win for weather-resistant bistro furniture, this set brings the two-seater classic into the present day with sleek metal curves and elegant hairpin legs.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 7 Apr. 2025
August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2025
From Kevin Baxter: As Joan Benoit Samuelson negotiated the hairpin turn into the Coliseum tunnel, ran past the USC locker room and onto the stadium’s red synthetic track for the final 400 meters of the 1984 Olympic marathon, her focus wasn’t only on finishing, but on finishing strong.
—Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hairpin
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Noun
See treasures Human remains that had been burned were also found inside the tomb, along with grave goods like a black-glazed porcelain basin, a white porcelain cup, a bronze mirror, a jade hairpin, a wooden comb and an epitaph, or tombstone.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 14 Apr. 2025
Another win for weather-resistant bistro furniture, this set brings the two-seater classic into the present day with sleek metal curves and elegant hairpin legs.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
But a few days before Christmas, a string quartet hauled its instruments up the hairpin stone pathway, into a Franklin Hills living room for a monthly house-show series.
—August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2025
From Kevin Baxter: As Joan Benoit Samuelson negotiated the hairpin turn into the Coliseum tunnel, ran past the USC locker room and onto the stadium’s red synthetic track for the final 400 meters of the 1984 Olympic marathon, her focus wasn’t only on finishing, but on finishing strong.
—Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hairpin
Cite this Entry
“Hairpin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hairpin. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
hairpin
noun
hair·pin
ˈha(ə)r-ˌpin, ˈhe(ə)r- 
variants
also hairpin loop
: a region in single-stranded RNA or DNA that is double-stranded due to pairing between purine and pyrimidine bases in adjacent sequences of the RNA or DNA that are complementary and inverted
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