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:
Besides its own direct 10.3% in Nvidia, XLKM’s 66% position in its older sibling gives it another 9.9% in Nvidia indirectly—and so on for each of its top holdings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Having a sibling or parent who has been diagnosed with blood clots can raise someone’s risk, but more than often than not the cause of blood clots has nothing to do with genetics.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
In the meantime, there’s a lot of unwieldy comic commotion involving a missing corpse, a tweaking, naked Dwight and enough insipid TV sibling bickering to clog the airwaves for a decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
The researchers also used sibling comparisons to investigate whether the findings might instead be explained by characteristics shared within families.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
I got to experience what it was like to have an older sibling take care of me, and I also got to experience what it was like to take care of someone else.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
At one hearing, three defendants were visibly moved when they saw their siblings, who had come from France, for the first time in years.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Senior Alana Carrillo walks with her parents Andrew and Amy and siblings on Patriot High School Senior Night after a 57-0 win.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
The two siblings posted a photo of themselves holding a Brazilian flag on Wednesday.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
It’s a tough break for you and your siblings, if you have any.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Alexander, who, alone among his siblings, had realized he was now making his West End debut, spoke.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
