sibling
Americannoun
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siblings
plural
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a brother or sister.
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Anthropology. a comember of a sib, a unilateral descent group thought to share kinship through a common ancestor.
adjective
noun
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a person's brother or sister
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( as modifier )
sibling rivalry
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any fellow member of a sib
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sibling
before 1000; late Middle English: relative, Old English; see sib, -ling 1
Explanation
A sibling is your brother or sister. It's that simple. The word sibling once meant anyone who is related to you, but now it's reserved for children of the same parent or parents. It is a word that was once out of use but then brought back into English in the early 1900s as a useful word in anthropology. If you and your brother fight all of the time, your parents might call it sibling rivalry. You might just call him annoying and run from the room.
Vocabulary lists containing sibling
It's All in the Family
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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.
See Examples For:
Besides its own direct 10.3% in Nvidia, XLKM’s 66% position in its older sibling gives it another 9.9% in Nvidia indirectly—and so on for each of its top holdings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
No, they don’t look at all alike, but their sibling dynamic feels fresh and alive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Each sibling would receive one-quarter of the proceeds from the sale.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
The researchers also used sibling comparisons to investigate whether the findings might instead be explained by characteristics shared within families.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Ravi was already there, and like all younger brothers, I would suffer from following in the footsteps of a popular older sibling.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
At one hearing, three defendants were visibly moved when they saw their siblings, who had come from France, for the first time in years.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
The sisters broke away to dedicate an altar to one of their siblings who recently died and whose death came after a deluge of personal losses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
I had six siblings, all of them older, so while I didn’t know what lonely meant at an early age, I did spend a lot of time alone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Multiple messages from Bern's siblings were shown in court saying that she should be paid something for the care, although no amount was agreed.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
If both my siblings are quiet, Dad will turn on a French podcast.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
