verb (used without object)
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to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
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to talk lightly and rapidly, especially of trivial matters; chatter.
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to titter; giggle.
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to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.
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Digital Technology. tweet.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) (esp of a bird) to utter a succession of chirping sounds
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(intr) to talk or move rapidly and tremulously
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(intr) to giggle
her schoolmates twittered behind their desks
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(tr) to utter in a chirping way
noun
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a twittering sound, esp of a bird
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the act of twittering
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a state of nervous excitement (esp in the phrase in a twitter )
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have twitteredperfect
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has twitteredperfect 3rd person singular
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am twitteringprogressive 1st person singular
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have been twitteringperfect progressive
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are twitteringprogressive
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twitteringparticiple
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twitterssingular 3rd person
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is twitteringprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been twitteringperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had twitteredperfect
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were twitteringprogressive plural
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was twitteringprogressive singular
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twitteredsimple
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twitteredparticiple
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had been twitteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of twitter
1325–75; Middle English twiteren (v.); akin to German zwitschern
Explanation
To twitter is to make a sound like a bird's trill or chirp. One of the nicest things about spring is the sound of birds as they twitter in the trees. Tweet tweet! When birds twitter, they make a staccato, musical chirping sound. You can call this sound itself a twitter too. Sometimes the word is used to describe a similar sound made by chattering humans. In the fourteenth century, the word was twiteren, developed from an imitation of the sound that twittering birds make. Twitter is also a social media website founded in 2006, on which people post 140-character bursts of information called tweets. Wonder where they got that idea.
Vocabulary lists containing twitter
"Terrible Things"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“The whole time, I was yelling on Twitter about how he’s got to stop it: the AI videos are gonna hurt him, the Basura stuff, the zombie stuff. Like, stop it! Stop it!”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
Gracias has invested in all of Musk’s projects, including Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company, the Twitter acquisition, and xAI, and served on multiple boards.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
Musk, who wears the mantle of a workaholic proudly, has often said he's not in business simply to make money - claims he repeated recently with regard to his Twitter takeover.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
There’s a reason Musk bought Twitter, a reason Pratt talks the way he does about statistics, and a reason amateur creators blow so much money on their A.I. bills.
From Slate • Jun. 3, 2026
Dalma is in town meeting with developers from both Twitter and Facebook.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.