- present participle of pair.
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:
“Dancing With the Stars” pro Witney Carson on Wednesday shut down rumors that she wants her celebrity pairing to be voted off the new season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 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
One year after the death of Giorgio Armani, his brand's designs are pairing traditional elegance with crystals and sequins for the spring-summer collection presented on Sunday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
The venue, the brainchild of New York Knicks owner James Dolan, found a successful formula pairing high-tech lights and sounds with a lineup of broadly appealing musical acts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Thus the origin of the ‘Apology’ was every bit as private and personal as that of the essay on friendship, and here again we have a pairing of texts—Sebond’s defence of Christianity with Montaigne’s ‘Apology’.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Many of the pairings, including Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz, had never played alongside each other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The other pairings - including Britain's number one Henry Patten alongside top-ranked women's player Katerina Siniakova - will have to come through an eight-team qualifying round.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Another tactic Bielsa leans on is the use of wide pairings or trios to break teams down.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 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
Fischer had not only retained his title as United States Champion, he’d accomplished something unprecedented: For the third year in a row, he’d marched to the title without being defeated in any of the pairings.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
