twee
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What else does twee mean? Twee describes someone or something as affectedly and cloyingly cute, sweet, and quaint. It's also a subgenre of indie pop music.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of twee
1900–05; apparently reduced from tweet (perhaps via pronunciation twiʔ ), mimicking child's pronunciation of sweet
Explanation
Something is twee if it's a little too cute or overly adorable. A children's book that is sweet and sentimental, illustrated with squirrels in little dresses, could be described as twee. You could call a flowery hat twee, or describe an elaborate tea party, complete with lacy napkins, fancy silverware, and dressed-up guests, as twee. The word is traditionally British, and its original meaning could have described a dollhouse: "tiny, dainty, or miniature." Much as tummy comes from stomach, twee stems from the (overly adorable) way a child might pronounce the word sweet.
Vocabulary lists containing twee
This Week In Words: August 30–September 4, 2020
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Symphony for the City of the Dead
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Far from the Tree
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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.
But it also endeavored to sound different from previous fantasy media, replacing twee flutes with composer Ramin Djawadi’s deep strings, rhythmic drumming and a theme song that sought to inspire its audience to battle.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2026
We’re less than a year removed from the Pollyanna twee of “The Life of Chuck,” and daily life has only become more cruel.
From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026
Despite its heavy subject matter, We Live In Time has been praised as "life-affirming", although other critics have described it as "positively twee".
From BBC • Oct. 17, 2024
July’s work has frequently been described as whimsical or twee, but those adjectives can’t convey the molten core of this book, which is at once hilarious and dead serious.
From Seattle Times • May 22, 2024
She liked the way he said locate, all twee, like a schoolmaster.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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.
