sister

[ sis-ter ]

/ ˈsɪs tər /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: sister / sisters on Thesaurus.com

noun

a female offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; female sibling.

Also called half sister. a female offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.

stepsister.

a female friend or protector regarded as a sister.

a thing regarded as feminine and associated as if by kinship with something else: The ships are sisters.

a female fellow member, as of a church.

a female member of a religious community that observes the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

British. a nurse in charge of a hospital ward; head nurse.

Informal. a term used to refer to or address a fellow Black woman; soul sister.

a woman who supports, promotes, or participates in feminism.

Informal. a form of address used to a woman or girl, especially jocularly or contemptuously: Listen, sister, you've had enough.

adjective

being or considered a sister; related by or as if by sisterhood: sister ships.

having a close relationship with another because of shared interests, problems, or the like: We correspond with school children in our sister city.

Biochemistry. being one of an identical pair.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.

Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of sister

First recorded before 900; Middle English (noun) from Old Norse systir; cognate with Old English sweoster, Dutch zuster, German Schwester, Gothic swistar; akin to Serbo-Croatian sèstra, Lithuanian sesuõ, Latin soror (from unattested swesor ), Old Irish siur, Welsh chwaer, Sanskrit svasar “sister,” Greek éor “daughter, niece”

OTHER WORDS FROM sister

sis·ter·less, adjectivesis·ter·like, adjectivenon·sis·ter, noun, adjective

Words nearby sister

sissified, Sissinghurst Castle, sissonne, sissy, sissy bar, sister, Sister Carrie, sisterhood, sister-in-law, Sister Joseph's nodule, Sister Kenny's treatment

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use sister in a sentence

Osaka’s win also served as yet another reminder of the Williams’ sisters legacy, even as Serena Williams was knocked out in the tournament’s semifinal on Thursday.
Naomi Osaka wins her second U.S. Open title with a powerful message|ehinchliffe|September 14, 2020|Fortune
My mom gave me a key to the house, showed me how to take three trains and a bus to the city and back, and then showed me how to do it with my sister, because I had to take my sister with me as well, but that’s when I knew she knew I really wanted it.
Sitcom Queen Tichina Arnold Got Funny to Avoid Spankings|Pallabi Munsi|September 10, 2020|Ozy
You think it happens a certain way, and then you look at a sister group and it doesn’t work that way at all.
How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found|Viviane Callier|September 9, 2020|Quanta Magazine
ByteDance already has its eyes on that business and is pushing TikTok and Douyin, its sister site in China, to add more e-commerce.
TikTok: Everything to know about tech’s biggest soap opera|Danielle Abril|September 5, 2020|Fortune

Because of the sister story being the focus, Elsa doesn’t have a handsome doofus to follow her around and try to win her love, unlike her sister Anna, who finds herself at the center of a genuine love triangle.
Toward a queer Disney canon|Emily VanDerWerff|September 4, 2020|Vox
Just a week after her divorce, she was invited to a wedding by her sister-in-law.
A Sunni-Shia Love Story Imperiled by al Qaeda|Ruth Michaelson|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Kirke, the 23-year-old younger sister of Girls star Jemima Kirke, is a good example of that herself.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music|Kevin Fallon|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the post-Kefauver era of the early 1950s, it had many advantages over its distant desert sister.
Will Hyman Roth Return to Havana With Normalized Relations?|John L. Smith|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The unit is used to attack foreign networks, and either it or a sister organization was involved in the Sony hack.
U.S. Should Make North Korea Pay for Sony Hack|Gordon G. Chang|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She and her sister went into business together in 1997, opening Curve Salon after a career in media.
Goodbye To A Natural Hair Guru: Miss Jessie's Cofounder Titi Branch Dead At 45|Danielle Belton|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To think,” said the younger Englishwoman to her sister, “of this wee mite travelling about in an open motor!
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
She and her younger sister, Janet, had quarreled a good deal through force of unfortunate habit.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
“My sister is passionately fond of children,” said the elder lady, in smiling apology.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
In the spring of 1868 he was taken by his mother for a visit to England, and there, in the same year, his sister was born.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
A little boy had been quarrelling with his sister named Muriel just before going to bed.
Children's Ways|James Sully

British Dictionary definitions for sister

sister

/ (ˈsɪstə) /

noun

a female person having the same parents as another person

See half-sister, stepsister

a female person who belongs to the same group, trade union, etc, as another or others

informal a form of address to a woman or girl, used esp by Black people in the US

a senior nurse

mainly RC Church a nun or a title given to a nun

a woman fellow member of a Church or religious body

(modifier) belonging to the same class, fleet, etc, as another or othersa sister ship

(modifier) biology denoting any of the cells or cell components formed by division of a parent cell or cell componentsister nuclei

Word Origin for sister

Old English sweostor; related to Old Norse systir, Old High German swester, Gothic swistar

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

sister

Origin of sister

OTHER WORDS FROM sister

Words nearby sister

Words related to sister

How to use sister in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sister

Word Origin for sister