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.

---

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.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• first cousins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of first cousin

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

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

The genetic analysis identified her as my father’s first cousin once removed and my own second cousin, narrowing the search to my grandfather’s siblings and their children.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

After adjusting to the shock, Monahan embraced the news, using 23andMe to meet relatives she never knew she had, including a first cousin and four half-siblings.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2025

The father of evolution Charles Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2025

She was also his first cousin and therefore a natural choice for a spouse.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini