twitter
verb (used without object)
to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
[twit-er]
/ ˈtwɪt ər /
verb (used without object)
-
twitters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
twittered,
past participle, past
-
twittering
present participle
-
to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
-
to talk lightly and rapidly, especially of trivial matters; chatter.
-
to titter; giggle.
-
to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.
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Digital Technology. tweet.
verb (used with object)
-
twitters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
twittered,
past participle, past
-
twittering
present participle
Twitter
2
American
Trademark.
twitter
1
British
/ ˈtwɪtə /
verb
-
(intr) (esp of a bird) to utter a succession of chirping sounds
-
(intr) to talk or move rapidly and tremulously
-
(intr) to giggle
her schoolmates twittered behind their desks
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(tr) to utter in a chirping way
noun
-
a twittering sound, esp of a bird
-
the act of twittering
-
a state of nervous excitement (esp in the phrase in a twitter )
Twitter
2
British
/ ˈtwɪtə /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
twittersimple
-
twitterssimple
-
have twitteredperfect
-
has twitteredperfect
-
am twitteringprogressive
-
are twitteringprogressive
-
is twitteringprogressive
-
have been twitteringperfect progressive
-
has been twitteringperfect progressive
Past
-
twitteredsimple
-
had twitteredperfect
-
was twitteringprogressive
-
were twitteringprogressive
-
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.
See Examples For:
This month, novelist Daniel Torday posted, “This space has become almost as unusable as twitter was. I’m out.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk posted on the site.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
"For us she is Ashling. For many her story will haunt the internet through clickbait articles, trending twitter threads and invasive podcast episodes, using the contents of her story for popularity."
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2023
“Soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2023
Jean Louise saw the glint of gold-rimmed spectacles slung across a sour face looking out from under a crooked wig, the twitter of a bony finger.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
On 4 October 2016, Taylor sent Matchroom's Eddie Hearn a direct message on Twitter, now known as X, asking if he would consider promoting her.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
SpaceX counted all of that as a market it could compete for, because the company owns what used to be Twitter.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
“I remember we would correspond over Twitter DMs, and she just seemed very excited to be helpful in any way,” Matthews said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Twitter discontinued the app in 2017 after a four-year run, but its weird and wonderful videos have lived on in the collective memory of the Very Online ever since.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
His Twitter profile picture was a shot of a rat sitting atop a cube of cheese, its legs crossed.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Looking like a miniature killer whale, it twitters in flight.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2020
We startle a chunky little woodcock that's sheltering in the long grass and it twitters its indignation shrilly.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2020
She added, “I’m personally tired of all the twitters and the twotters.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2017
In an age of 24/7 rolling news, blogs and twitters, we are on constant call wherever we are.
From Time ● Feb. 22, 2012
The teepee filled with the twitters of a bird and distant traffic.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Shorebirds twittered and blue-gray waves lapped and whooshed, bringing the sounds of the beach to the Central Valley.
From New York Times ● Apr. 3, 2023
As the orange ball of the sun rose on the horizon and birds twittered in the eucalypti, Baumgarten showed up—a fit, poised, attractive guy in his 40s.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 2, 2020
He twittered on about last night’s screening, then asked me to think of a piece to write for Vogue, so that’s a relief.
From MSNBC ● Nov. 15, 2017
He shows how observing the nesting larks that twittered above 'no man's land' and natural cycles such as the seasons gave a sense of renewal, and how animal 'troops' were inspirationally loyal.
From Nature ● Nov. 15, 2016
Ash and birch trees clustered on either side of the road, and birds flitted on the branches and twittered at Anya as she passed.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
It helps nurture a slower, older way of life, with pocket flocks and modest dairy herds enclosed by thick hedgerows foaming with cow parsley and twittering songbirds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
On a long low wall alongside the Liangshui river in Beijing, a trader has several small cages with tiny twittering birds.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025
And the twittering masses erupted in debate again hours later when the Los Angeles Police Department announced it was not investigating the matter because Rock had declined to pursue criminal charges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
Unsurprisingly, birdsong dominates, but so do wind and waves; symphonies of springtime twittering segue abruptly into the whines of a distant fox.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
And then there was the familiar twittering and squawking Joseph had come to know so well.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
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.
