robin
1 Americannoun
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any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.
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a large American thrush, Turdus migratorius, having a chestnut-red breast and abdomen.
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any of several similar thrushes of the New World tropics, not necessarily having reddish underparts, as T. grayi clay-colored robin, of Mexico and Central America.
noun
noun
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Also called: robin redbreast. a small Old World songbird, Erithacus rubecula , related to the thrushes: family Muscicapidae . The male has a brown back, orange-red breast and face, and grey underparts
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a North American thrush, Turdus migratorius , similar to but larger than the Old World robin
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any of various similar birds having a reddish breast
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of robin
First recorded in 1540–50; short for robin redbreast
Explanation
The sweet-sounding, red-chested birds that symbolize the beginning of spring are robins. There are actually many different birds called robins, and while most share a reddish-orange breast, they're actually distantly related to each other. In the U.S., the bird we think of as a robin is officially the American robin, a kind of thrush. It's the most common land bird in North America, and it's famous for laying eggs very early in the spring — and singing at the crack of dawn. The robin's most deadly predator is the domesticated cat.
Vocabulary lists containing robin
Birds, Birds, Birds, List 2
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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:
The wheelchair curling team round robin comes to an end.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
Sweden believed one of the Canadians was repeatedly double-touching, giving the stone another little prod with his finger to correct its course during Friday's round robin match.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
It's the final day of the curling round robin stage, with the semi-final line-ups to be determined and – in the case of the men's competition – played on the same day.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
Microphones recorded 21 distress calls from the robin, followed by 23 minutes of chewing as the bat flew low, feeding on the wing.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025
Sula stepped off the Cincinnati Flyer into the robin shit and began the long climb up into the Bottom.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
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The museum will also screen “Seeing Is Believing: The Story of Narrative Art,” a new documentary series it commissioned from Robin Dashwood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
"Psychedelic means 'psyche-revealing,' or making the psyche visible," said senior author Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor of Neurology at UCSF.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
K3 is a “home run” that represents another instance in which China’s top AI labs keeping pace with the U.S. frontier has surprised global investors, Robin Zhu and others say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“But if you don’t have a loved one nearby,” she continued, “you always have me: Robin Byrd.”
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
I kept my gloves on and stayed beside Robin.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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Donovan has taken full advantage of the home’s surroundings, regularly sharing videos of the garden on his Instagram account, including a January 2023 clip of a flock of robins visiting a birdbath on the grounds.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 10, 2026
Market hunters used shotguns, nets and traps to fill traincars with passenger pigeons—as well as robins, woodpeckers, blackbirds and orioles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
"They're so feisty, robins, so he wasn't giving up without a fight," she added.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
"Moving forward, Corey and Amy plan to dissect the mechanisms by which sea robins develop sensory legs for understanding where limbs come and how they specialize for various forms of sensation," Bellono said.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2024
I suppose I should clean the kitchen and vacuum, but the windows are open and robins sing on the front lawn, where a pile of mulch with my name on it is waiting.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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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.