akin
Americanadjective
-
of kin; related by blood (usually used predicatively).
cousins who were too closely akin for marriage.
-
allied by nature; having the same properties.
Something akin to vertigo was troubling her.
- Synonyms:
- parallel, comparable, analogous, similar, cognate
-
having or showing an affinity; kindred.
They are emotionally but not intellectually akin.
adjective
-
related by blood; of the same kin
-
(often foll by to) having similar characteristics, properties, etc
Etymology
Origin of akin
Explanation
If two things are akin, then they're similar or related. A cupcake is akin to a cake and relatives are akin to each other. If you know the word kin — a relative — then you have a clue to the meaning of akin. People who are related are akin, but the word goes beyond blood relations. Football is akin to the sport of rugby; baseball is akin to the British sport cricket. Mice are akin to rats, and rats are akin to gerbils, hamsters, and squirrels. Things that are akin are alike.
Vocabulary lists containing akin
The Kite Runner
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Dracula
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"Tinker v. Des Moines": Excerpts from Justice Fortas's Opinion
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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 study found that old news is akin to no news at all.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 4, 2026
The interior American west, with its inhospitable landscape, was more akin to the Appalachian wilderness and attracted individuals with similarly rugged individualistic views.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2026
It’s tempting to portray competition in the quantum space as a mad dash, akin to the high-stakes sprints to commercialize cloud compute and artificial intelligence.
From Barron's • Jun. 29, 2026
To Mr. Margouleff, “it was more akin to a wind instrument in that you put your total emotive energy into playing one note, or in our case one event, at a time.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
He had a feeling toward her that was akin to that which he held toward his mother.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
