first cousin

American  

noun

• first cousins
  plural

1. cousin.

2. anything or anyone closely related to or resembling another.

   The film producer tried not to make the movie a first cousin to his last hit.

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first cousin Idioms  

1. A close relation or resemblance to someone or something, as in This new machine is a first cousin to the previous model. The figurative use of cousin, which literally means “the child of one's aunt or uncle,” dates from the 1300s.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• first cousins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of first cousin

First recorded in 1965–70

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

first cousin

Nieuwenhuijsen’s fifth great-grandmother, Beata de la Sablonière, was the painter’s first cousin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Michelle and Lavinia met up with a woman called Olivine, who Michelle believed was a new first cousin to both her and her twin.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

If the distinguished Soviet literary scholar Olga Freidenberg is known at all in the West, it is for her 45-year correspondence with her beloved first cousin, the novelist and poet Boris Pasternak.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Mixing humor with personal anecdotes in his remarks, Chesney joked that he was country singer Kenny Chesney’s first cousin and that the other Chesney would be at every game.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025

Uncle Amin was his mother’s third cousin or something, since Uncle Amin’s mother was Zafoona’s father’s first cousin.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

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