sibling
Americannoun
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a brother or sister.
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Anthropology. a comember of a sib, a unilateral descent group thought to share kinship through a common ancestor.
adjective
noun
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a person's brother or sister
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( as modifier )
sibling rivalry
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any fellow member of a sib
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sibling
before 1000; late Middle English: relative, Old English; see sib, -ling 1
Explanation
A sibling is your brother or sister. It's that simple. The word sibling once meant anyone who is related to you, but now it's reserved for children of the same parent or parents. It is a word that was once out of use but then brought back into English in the early 1900s as a useful word in anthropology. If you and your brother fight all of the time, your parents might call it sibling rivalry. You might just call him annoying and run from the room.
Vocabulary lists containing sibling
It's All in the Family
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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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.
"She was just really funny. It's not the type of funny that's just telling jokes, it's sibling banter that just bounces off each other – we're just one upping each other, like tennis," he said.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026
The most common response, given by nearly half of the 125 respondents, was to give themselves a 10 for involvement and their sibling a 1.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 30, 2026
Big Bear eagles Jackie and Shadow’s offspring, Sandy and sibling Luna, hatched in April, and millions watched as they hatched.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2026
With an almost 20-year gap between Oisin and his oldest sibling, his parents lovingly called him "the icing on the cake".
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
"It's not like that. They're fine—just the usual sibling stuff. She asked how you were doing. She wants you to be happy, that's all."
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
