bikini
noun
a very brief, close-fitting, two-piece bathing suit for women or girls.
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bikini
1 American
[bih-kee-nee]
/ bɪˈki ni /
noun
bikinis
plural
-
a very brief, close-fitting, two-piece bathing suit for women or girls.
-
a very brief, close-fitting pair of bathing trunks for men or boys.
-
Often bikinis. underwear briefs that are fitted low on the hip or below it.
Bikini
2
American
[bih-kee-nee]
/ bɪˈki ni /
noun
Bikini
1
British
/ bɪˈkiːnɪ /
noun
bikini
2
British
/ bɪˈkiːnɪ /
noun
Etymology
Origin of bikini
1945–50; < French, apparently named after Bikini
Explanation
A bikini is a two-piece women's bathing suit. Bikinis are usually skimpy, and a particularly small one inspired a song from 1960 called "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” We don't normally associate atomic bomb tests with cute bathing suits, but this one's an exception. The bikini is named after the Pacific atoll of the same name, where an atomic bomb was exploded in 1946. The reason a tiny bathing suit is named after a tiny island isn’t clear. Although a bikini isn't as explosive as a bomb, it is likely to be worn by a bombshell.
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.
Elizabeth Smart lit up the internet last month after posting a picture of herself in a tiny midnight-blue bikini with a full-body spray tan, blonde hair extensions and a seriously ripped physique.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Reality star Kourtney Kardashian hit back in 2020 after an Instagram user suggested she looked pregnant in bikini photos.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2024
“I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor,” Maine Sen. Susan Collins said to reporters on Monday, before clarifying that she was joking and adding, sternly, that the change “debases the institution.”
From Slate • Sep. 23, 2023
“Pathaan” elicited such a response over its song “Besharam Rang,” which features his co-star Padukone in a saffron-colored bikini.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 21, 2023
I explained that I had gotten it when I was three, and that I’d been in the hospital for six weeks getting skin grafts, and that was why I never wore a bikini.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
