tin
noun
a low-melting, malleable, ductile metallic element nearly approaching silver in color and luster: used in plating and in making alloys, tinfoil, and soft solders. Sn; 118.69; 50; 7.31 at 20°C.
tin
1 American
[tin]
/ tɪn /
noun
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tins
plural
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Chemistry. a low-melting, malleable, ductile metallic element nearly approaching silver in color and luster: used in plating and in making alloys, tinfoil, and soft solders. Sn; 118.69; 50; 7.31 at 20°C.
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any shallow pan, especially one used in baking.
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any pot, box, can, or other container or vessel made of tin or tin plate.
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Squash. telltale.
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Chiefly British. a hermetically sealed can containing food.
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Slang. a small quantity of an illicit drug, especially from two to five grams of cocaine: usually sold in a small plastic bag, a glassine envelope, or often a small tin container.
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British Slang. money.
adjective
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made or consisting of tin or tin plate.
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false; worthless; counterfeit.
a set of tin values.
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indicating the tenth event of a series, as a wedding anniversary.
verb (used with object)
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tins,
present (3rd person singular)
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tinned,
past participle, past
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tinning
present participle
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Metallurgy.
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to cover or coat with tin.
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to coat with soft solder.
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Chiefly British. to preserve or pack (especially food) in cans; can.
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to cover (windows and doors in an abandoned or unoccupied building or apartment) with sheets of tin to prevent vandalism or occupancy by vagrants, squatters, etc.
TIN
2
American
[tin]
/ tɪn /
noun
tin
British
/ tɪn /
noun
-
a metallic element, occurring in cassiterite, that has several allotropes; the ordinary malleable silvery-white metal slowly changes below 13.2°C to a grey powder. It is used extensively in alloys, esp bronze and pewter, and as a noncorroding coating for steel. Symbol: Sn; atomic no: 50; atomic wt: 118.710; valency: 2 or 4; relative density: 5.75 (grey), 7.31 (white); melting pt: 231.9°C; boiling pt: 2603°C
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Also called (esp US and Canadian): can. an airtight sealed container of thin sheet metal coated with tin, used for preserving and storing food or drink
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any container made of metallic tin
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to complete a home baking of cakes, biscuits, etc
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Also called: tinful. the contents of a tin or the amount a tin will hold
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corrugated or galvanized iron
a tin roof
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any metal regarded as cheap or flimsy
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a loaf of bread with a rectangular shape, baked in a tin
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slang money
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it lives up to expectations
verb
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to put (food, etc) into a tin or tins; preserve in a tin
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to plate or coat with tin
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to prepare (a metal) for soldering or brazing by applying a thin layer of solder to the surface
tin
Scientific
/ tĭn /
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A malleable, silvery metallic element that occurs in igneous rocks. It has a crystalline structure and crackles when bent. Tin is used as an anticorrosion agent and is a part of numerous alloys, including bronze. Atomic number 50; atomic weight 118.71; melting point 231.89°C; boiling point 2,270°C; specific gravity 7.31; valence 2, 4.
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See Periodic Table See Note at element
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tinsimple
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tinssimple
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have tinnedperfect
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has tinnedperfect
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am tinningprogressive
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are tinningprogressive
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is tinningprogressive
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have been tinningperfect progressive
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has been tinningperfect progressive
Past
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tinnedsimple
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had tinnedperfect
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was tinningprogressive
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were tinningprogressive
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had been tinningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tin
before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, Old Norse tin, German Zinn; (v.) Middle English tinnen, derivative of the noun
Explanation
Tin is a kind of metal that is soft and silver-colored. The most common use of tin today is in solder, the hot, liquid metal that holds pipes and other metal pieces together. You may think of common items like tin foil and tin cans when you contemplate the uses of tin. Actually, so-called tin cans and tins are made of steel or other metals that are coated in tin. Before the middle of the 20th century, the foil used for covering food was made of thin sheets of tin. It was stiffer than today's foil (which is made of aluminum), and left food with a metallic, "tinny" taste.
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:
Most cymbals are made of a copper and tin alloy that is melted into molten bronze which is poured into moulds and cooled into disc-shaped blanks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
The Mets began the season with an even bigger payroll than L.A.’s and has done nothing but make New York City want to kick a tin can down the street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
King Charles, who became patron of the RHS in 2024, and the Queen presented awards including to a display called The Queen Bee made from upcycled containers – with tin can bees.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 9 cups of a standard muffin tin.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
My sisters gave us an elegant lunch—meaning our meat came from a tin instead of the slaughter shed—on a clean tablecloth in the apartment they shared three stories above the street.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Your beneficiary will also need an SSN or TIN.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
When the number is being used as identification, it is typically referred to as a TIN, and when it is being used for employment tax reporting, it’s usually referred to as an EIN.
From Encyclopedia.com ● Jun. 6, 2018
It’s highly likely that the company you work for will be able to give you the TIN.
From Encyclopedia.com ● Jun. 6, 2018
TIN SWE Rangoon, Burma Sir: Although I am not a Buddhist, I interpreted your article on the subject as an unregenerate evaluation of the antinomies of a great religion.
From Time Magazine Archive
THE TIN BOX Dick Gordon lay on a bed in a sunny south room at the Corbett place.
From A Daughter of the Dons A Story of New Mexico Today by William MacLeod Raine
As well as offering the few tins it had secured as a prize for its readers, it reported that thanks to “quiet diplomacy” between the magazine and AB Foods, negotiations are advancing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Across the city in a suburb of Beirut, kitchen shelves were stacked with sauces and tins crowded the walls as volunteers prepared green beans and fried rice balls.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Frustrated by traditional candle formats, he launched a line of portable candles packaged in small, tuna-like tins designed to make “home follow you wherever you go.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy snack tins.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
The cookies Theo had come in to steal didn’t even exist; the tins in my room are all crumbs.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Keep foods like dried and canned beans, canned tomatoes, tinned fish, olive oil, and a variety of whole grains on hand so you always have something to cook with.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Everton made league history when Hafnia, a Danish tinned meat company, was the first sponsor to appear on a shirt, followed days later by Liverpool, who had signed up with Japanese electronics firm Hitachi.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Part of it has to do with the simultaneous leaps in quality, availability and marketing of certain shelf-stable standards: good tinned fish, squeeze-bottle olive oil, dried beans with their very own fan clubs.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Donna, who used to work in the military but now works in education, stores water, tinned food, freeze-dried food, tea, coffee, powdered milk and a first aid kit.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
“These are for you,” she says, handing Ashima a cellophane-wrapped basket full of tinned pates and jars of cornichons and chutneys that Gogol knows his parents will never open or enjoy.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
After the war in 1922, he bought the business of J. Lesher & Son and dealt in plumbing, heating, roof tinning, spouting and stoves.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 17, 2018
Most of its processes, from skinning to tinning, are now controlled by buttons, and new byproducts have led Armour in promising directions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Through its encouragement of the tinning industry, it helped make tinned meat a part of the British diet; through its public lectures, it introduced the nation to such modern wonders as the Edison phonograph.
From Time Magazine Archive
First will come hot and cold rolling mills and a tinning operation, which will cost a total of $89.8 million and have an annual capacity of 555,000 tons.
From Time Magazine Archive
The starboard wing was heavily engaged, however, and the center had shattered under the stones of those trebuchets, some captains tinning downstream, others veering to port, anything to escape that crushing rain.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
