twin

noun \ ˈtwin \

Updated on: 26 Apr 2018

Definition of twin

1 a : either of two offspring produced at a birth

b Twins plural : gemini

2 : one of two persons or things closely related to or resembling each other

3 : a compound crystal composed of two adjoining crystals or parts of crystals of the same kind that share a common plane of atoms

—

twinship

play \-ˌship\ noun

See twin defined for English-language learners

Examples of twin in a Sentence

She's the mother of twins.
The twins went swimming after lunch.
My sister just had twins.
Sarah and her brother are twins.

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

America, this is your ACM Awards.’’ The ACMs also marked an important night for Chris Stapleton, who missed the show because his wife, Morgane, gave birth to twins.

— mesfin fekadu, BostonGlobe.com, "Jason Aldean wins entertainer of the year at Academy of Country Music Awards," 16 Apr. 2018
Get our daily newsletter Thomas and Timothy Pearson, who are twins, hail from Iowa and have no previous connection to the University of Chicago.

— The Economist, "One of University of Chicago’s largest donors tries to retrieve $100m," 12 Apr. 2018
The brothers, who are fraternal twins, have already taken different paths in some repects.

— mark stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Baseball preview: Indiana recruit Jeff Holtz grateful for experiences at Arrowhead," 10 Apr. 2018
Shortly after the transplant, DeMayo became pregnant and gave birth to twins.

— allison klein, ajc, "After a teenager died, his organs provided life to others - and a bigger family to his parents," 30 Mar. 2018
Shortly after the transplant, DeMayo became pregnant and gave birth to twins.

— allison klein, Anchorage Daily News, "After a teenager died, his organs provided life to others – and a bigger family to his parents," 30 Mar. 2018
Her daughters are fraternal twins, one from the mosaic embryo.

— sumathi reddy, WSJ, "IVF Testing Spurs a Debate Over ‘Mosaic’ Embryos," 21 Mar. 2018
Book gave birth to twins two weeks before the 2017 session, her first in the Senate.

— CBS News, ""It makes me very angry": Florida fails to pass sexual harassment bill," 10 Mar. 2018
Beyoncé gave birth to twins Rumi and Sir in July, so a family outing makes sense.

— joey guerra, Houston Chronicle, "Are Beyoncé and Jay-Z going on tour together?," 24 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'twin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of twin

Middle English, from twin twofold

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

twin Synonyms

twin

adjective

Definition of twin

1 : born with one other or as a pair at one birth

my twin brother

twin girls

2 a : made up of two similar, related, or connected members or parts : double

b : paired in a close or necessary relationship : matching

c : having or consisting of two identical units

d : being one of a pair

See twin defined for English-language learners

See twin defined for kids

Examples of twin in a Sentence

the twin goals of reducing oil dependence and protecting the environment

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

Nearby, the twin halves of a split fossil lay side by side, displaying a fish that now seemed to be perpetually swimming toward itself.

— stefen chow, Smithsonian, "The Great Chinese Dinosaur Boom," 19 Apr. 2018
Those twin developments -- coming hard on top of one another -- go a long way to disrupting the White House's preferred narrative that, contra to what the media reports, Trump has been super, super tough on Russia.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "Donald Trump's claim to be the toughest president ever on Russia just collapsed," 17 Apr. 2018
The killing of Elena Rodriguez was felt deeply in the twin communities of Nogales, where about 20,000 people live on the Arizona side and about 300,000 in Mexico.

— Washington Post, "Border shooting case jury adjourns for day without verdict," 17 Apr. 2018
The western state of Colima had a rate of 93.6 and Baja California Sur, home to the twin resort towns of Los Cabos, had a rate of 69.1, according to AP.

— michelle gant, Fox News, "Acapulco, Mexico's 'murder capital,' sees steady tourism despite increasing danger," 17 Apr. 2018
This may have something to do with not having twin 38-year-olds, Thornton and Marleau, on the ice.

— ann killion, San Francisco Chronicle, "Sharks racing toward Round 2 without those old guys," 16 Apr. 2018
My mug reminds me of my twin granddaughters’ fourth grade math book, that chapter on lines and rays and other geometric shapes.

— ana veciana-suarez, miamiherald, "With age comes great wisdom, along with a need for continued independence | Miami Herald," 16 Apr. 2018
The system prompted Enbridge Energy to temporarily shutter twin oil and gas pipelines in Michigan that may have been recently damaged by a ship anchor strike.

— CBS News, "Greensboro, North Carolina, under state of emergency after apparent tornado hits city," 16 Apr. 2018
The museum’s latest exhibit puts names and faces to the heretofore nameless and faceless social forces that shape policy around downtown L.A.’s twin issues: relentless development and rampant homelessness.

— jason mcgahan, Los Angeles Magazine, "Why Doesn’t Skid Row Have a Neighborhood Council? Activists Sound Off in a New Exhibit," 13 Apr. 2018

Origin and Etymology of twin

Middle English, twofold, double, from Old English twinn; akin to Old Norse tvinnr two by two, Old English twā two

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1593

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

twin Synonyms

Synonyms

binary, bipartite, double, double-barreled, double-edged, dual, duplex, twofold;

Antonyms

single;

Near Antonyms

unpaired;

Related Words

mated, paired;

twin

verb

Definition of twin

twinned; twinning

transitive verb

1 : to bring together in close association : couple

2 : duplicate, match

intransitive verb

1 : to bring forth twins

2 : to grow as a twin crystal

See twin defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

Kylie Jenner’s new baby, Stormi Webster, is only two months old and the makeup mogul is already finding ways to twin with her little one.

— avery matera, Teen Vogue, "Kylie Jenner Took Daughter Stormi Webster Out in a $12,500 Fendi Stroller," 13 Apr. 2018
His ambition, twinned with desperation, resonates with any teenager who wants to journey off to college or move states away for work, in a bid to escape youthful boundaries.

— jesmyn ward, New York Times, "Jay Gatsby: A Dreamer Doomed to Be Excluded. The Novelist Jesmyn Ward Explains.," 12 Apr. 2018
So far, by twinning their demands for better wages with calls for an increase in school funding, Oklahoma teachers have also managed to maintain the support of school superintendents and parents.

— stephen collinson, CNN, "From teens to teachers, activism stirs the electorate," 3 Apr. 2018
Johnson has worked with other scientists who have shown how a mass spectrometer, a tool common on NASA robotic missions right now, could be twinned with algorithms designed to evaluate a molecule’s complexity, not just its weight.

— paul voosen, Science | AAAS, "Want to discover truly alien life? Pack a genome sequencer," 23 Mar. 2018
The film twins these moments of bleakness with the redemptive power of music and self-understanding.

— august brown, latimes.com, "With Netflix's 'Roxanne Roxanne,' the story of hip-hop pioneer Roxanne Shanté is finally told," 23 Mar. 2018
Before long, the couple was twinning in public, jetting off to the Cannes Film Festival, and schmoozing with West’s fashionable friends.

— elana fishman, Glamour, "Kim Kardashian and Riccardo Tisci: a Timeline of Fashion's Most Unlikely—and Interesting—Pair," 9 Mar. 2018
Meghan was twinning with her future sister-in-law on stage as the foursome highlighted The Royal Foundation.

— erin hill, PEOPLE.com, "Meghan Markle Is Already Doing the 'Duchess Slant' (Just Like Kate!)," 28 Feb. 2018
Soon the street was alive with cool zephyrs that convected over the xeriscaped lawns and twined around the cacti and Little Free Libraries and the bare knees and ankles of the people of Lima Street.

— cory doctorow, The Atlantic, "The City of Coordinated Leisure," 28 Feb. 2018

First Known Use of twin

14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

TWIN Defined for English Language Learners

twin

noun

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

: either one of two babies that are born at the same time to the same mother
: either one of two similar things that form a pair

twin

verb

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

: to bring (two things) together in close association
: to form a relationship between (two towns in two countries)

twin

adjective

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

—used to describe children who are twins
: made up of two similar things that are used together
: forming one of a pair of related or connected ideas or places

TWIN Defined for Kids

twin

noun \ ˈtwin \

Definition of twin for Students

1 : either of two offspring produced at one birth

2 : one of two persons or things closely related to or very like each other

On the opposite side of the river is the city's twin.

twin

adjective

Definition of twin for Students

1 : born with one other or as a pair at one birth

my twin brother

2 : made up of two similar, related, or connected members or parts

a twin-engine airplane

3 : being one of a pair

Her face was a pasty white with twin spots of rouge on the cheeks.
—Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

Medical Dictionary

twin

adjective \ ˈtwin \

medical Definition of twin

: born with one other or as a pair at one birth

a twin brother

twin girls

twin

noun

medical Definition of twin

1 : either of two offspring produced at a birth

2 twins plural : a group of two offspring born at one birth

—

twinship

play \-ˌship\ noun

Learn More about twin

See words that rhyme with twin Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for twin Spanish Central: Translation of twin Nglish: Translation of twin for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of twin for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about twin

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up twin? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show

twin

Definition of twin

twinship

Examples of twin in a Sentence

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

Origin and Etymology of twin

twin Synonyms

Synonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

twin

Definition of twin

Examples of twin in a Sentence

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

Origin and Etymology of twin

twin Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

twin

Definition of twin

Recent Examples of twin from the Web

First Known Use of twin

Phrases Related to TWIN

Related Phrases

TWIN Defined for English Language Learners

twin

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

twin

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

twin

Definition of twin for English Language Learners

TWIN Defined for Kids

twin

Definition of twin for Students

twin

Definition of twin for Students

Medical Dictionary

twin

medical Definition of twin

twin

medical Definition of twin

twinship

Learn More about twin

Seen and Heard

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games

'Rather Than': Is It a Conjunction or Preposition?

April 2018 Words of the Day Quiz

Trending: Janelle Monáe Out as 'Pansexual'

All the Hits

2017 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes