sibling
Americannoun
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siblings
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
Ultimately, genetics and talent establish the ceiling, but the evidence suggests a supportive sibling ecosystem helps alchemize raw potential into greatness, and the sibling that benefits most is the one that comes later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Working with close relatives, whether that's a sibling or a parent, or someone else is almost always a higher risk approach, says Beeching.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Some people might prefer one adult sibling be the designated guardian over another.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Researchers have already used this type of evidence to help identify the sibling group to all other animals.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
But it doesn't feel great when your younger sibling surpasses you.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Blazo’s research shows that when sibling dynamics are colored by hostility and toxic comparisons, younger siblings experience “differentiation.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
He and I are the surviving siblings, along with several nieces and nephews who are the children of my deceased siblings.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Viv, Pete and Corey are siblings who have returned to the Michigan island where they spent their childhood summers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
My siblings and I began sending one another pictures of what we were eating from states away: Here is my dinner.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
One of his siblings went to Knoxville State, three had gone to Lincoln, and the rest went to Virginia State College, all Colored schools.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
