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Synonyms

bikini

1 American  
[bih-kee-nee] / bɪˈki ni /

noun

plural

bikinis

  1. a very brief, close-fitting, two-piece bathing suit for women or girls.

  2. a very brief, close-fitting pair of bathing trunks for men or boys.

  3. Often bikinis. underwear briefs that are fitted low on the hip or below it.

Bikini 2 American  
[bih-kee-nee] / bɪˈki ni /

noun

  1. an atoll in the N Pacific, in the Marshall Islands: atomic bomb tests 1946. 3 sq. mi. (8 sq. km).

Bikini 1 British  
/ bɪˈkiːnɪ /

noun

  1. an atoll in the N Pacific; one of the Marshall Islands: site of a US atomic-bomb test in 1946

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bikini 2 British  
/ bɪˈkiːnɪ /

noun

  1. a woman's very brief two-piece swimming costume

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bikini

1945–50; < French, apparently named after Bikini

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.

I love the story Didion tells of going to Ralphs in a bikini on a 105-degree day.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025

I’m standing on a Connecticut beach in a bikini at 6:25 a.m. on a November morning.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

Hooters is also discontinuing weekly bikini nights and emphasizing charitable initiatives such as “Wings for Children” and partnerships with veterans’ organizations.

From Salon • Aug. 23, 2025

“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

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.