pairing
Americannoun
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pairings
plural
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a coupling.
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Cell Biology. the lining up of the two homologous chromosomes or chromatids of each chromosome pair in meiosis or mitosis.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pairing
Explanation
A pairing is a match between two things or people, like the perfect pairing of chocolate and peanut butter. Use this noun for two folks who work together as a perfect unit, like the pairing of your baseball team's pitcher and catcher, or two things that seem made for each other, like the classic pairing of grilled cheese and tomato soup. You can also describe the act of sorting people into pairs this way: "Our family's secret Santa pairing meant that I had to buy a gift for my great uncle again."
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.
See Examples For:
Tickets are sold with or without a drink pairing, but the vibe is that of being invited to a secret society, a meeting of the world’s foremost minds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The pairing of a promising new drug with Zepbound was highly effective in a mid-stage clinical trial but also led to more side effects than expected, Lilly announced Wednesday.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
Recent trends pairing caviar with chicken nuggets and hot dogs had already created something of an identity crisis for the snooty food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Any question marks over Nordqvist's captaincy had revolved around repeatedly pairing her two star English players together over the first two days.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Just as I was about to break and suggest maybe not pairing purple with orange, the phone rang.
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
In a first for the show, celebrity and pro pairings were revealed via three dance routines.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Other high-profile pairings include world number one Aryna Sabalenka with 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, American pair Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz, and six-time major champion Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
As firms face an exit slowdown and a yearslong fundraising slump, an unexpected wave of good PR has come in the form of paparazzi photos featuring high-profile pairings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Tomato and soy are one of those quietly brilliant flavor pairings that seem to pop up everywhere once you start looking for them.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
With digraphs, your best hope is to chart the frequency of the pairings and use that to guess what each might represent.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
