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

Etymology

Origin of first cousin

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

first cousin

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

It wasn’t the first time that Huang had snubbed Su, who is also his first cousin, once removed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

The duchess, Katharine, was the oldest member of the Royal Family, married to Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2025

Since then, Matthew has driven to the West Country to meet his dad's genetic first cousin and her daughter for coffee.

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2025

She tried to be more precise, however, saying that she was going to spend her last years with a first cousin who lived in Riohacha.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez