twitter
verb (used without object)
to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
[twit-er]
/ ˈtwɪt ər /
verb (used without object)
-
twitters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
twittered,
past participle, past
-
twittering
present participle
-
to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
-
to talk lightly and rapidly, especially of trivial matters; chatter.
-
to titter; giggle.
-
to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.
-
Digital Technology. tweet.
verb (used with object)
-
twitters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
twittered,
past participle, past
-
twittering
present participle
Twitter
2
American
Trademark.
twitter
1
British
/ ˈtwɪtə /
verb
-
(intr) (esp of a bird) to utter a succession of chirping sounds
-
(intr) to talk or move rapidly and tremulously
-
(intr) to giggle
her schoolmates twittered behind their desks
-
(tr) to utter in a chirping way
noun
-
a twittering sound, esp of a bird
-
the act of twittering
-
a state of nervous excitement (esp in the phrase in a twitter )
Twitter
2
British
/ ˈtwɪtə /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
twittersimple
-
twitterssimple
-
have twitteredperfect
-
has twitteredperfect
-
am twitteringprogressive
-
are twitteringprogressive
-
is twitteringprogressive
-
have been twitteringperfect progressive
-
has been twitteringperfect progressive
Past
-
twitteredsimple
-
had twitteredperfect
-
was twitteringprogressive
-
were twitteringprogressive
-
had been twitteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of twitter
1325–75; Middle English twiteren (v.); akin to German zwitschern
Explanation
To twitter is to make a sound like a bird's trill or chirp. One of the nicest things about spring is the sound of birds as they twitter in the trees. Tweet tweet! When birds twitter, they make a staccato, musical chirping sound. You can call this sound itself a twitter too. Sometimes the word is used to describe a similar sound made by chattering humans. In the fourteenth century, the word was twiteren, developed from an imitation of the sound that twittering birds make. Twitter is also a social media website founded in 2006, on which people post 140-character bursts of information called tweets. Wonder where they got that idea.
Vocabulary lists containing twitter
"Terrible Things"
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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:
In a statement on Thursday, Lauren Edwards said: "I have recently been made aware of a small number of tweets that I posted on twitter from over a decade ago, which I now deeply regret."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2024
“LD check twitter asap,” Magee texted Donovan, “and prob fire your barber.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk posted on the site.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
“Soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2023
Nearby, across the river, a lark had begun to twitter and climb.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
So it wasn’t surprising that his damage control came quickly and at length in a Twitter essay the following morning.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2026
Engineers from his companies were seconded over to X, formerly Twitter, after Musk bought the social media platform in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
The researchers demonstrated that the ousiometer can analyze material from remarkably different sources, including Jane Austen's novels, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, the New York Times, Wikipedia, Twitter, and transcripts of talk radio programs.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026
Accusations of fraud arose when Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the $Libra coin, which he said at the time would help fund small businesses and start-ups.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
“I love what I did. But I don’t know who I am beyond the voice of a Twitter account and the evil face for a franchise.”
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
Looking like a miniature killer whale, it twitters in flight.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2020
We startle a chunky little woodcock that's sheltering in the long grass and it twitters its indignation shrilly.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2020
A small, pearly ensemble twitters, pipes up, coils, sings and surges over the bells, as a piano provides a rich, mellow grounding.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2016
He smiles, she twitters, and the next day the newspapers are headlining, “Who’s That Girl?”
From Time ● Nov. 22, 2011
The teepee filled with the twitters of a bird and distant traffic.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
The other players twinklingly twittered as Campbell’s hand slid up and down the neck of his cello, for a woozy ondes Martenot effect.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
As the orange ball of the sun rose on the horizon and birds twittered in the eucalypti, Baumgarten showed up—a fit, poised, attractive guy in his 40s.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 2, 2020
He twittered on about last night’s screening, then asked me to think of a piece to write for Vogue, so that’s a relief.
From MSNBC ● Nov. 15, 2017
He shows how observing the nesting larks that twittered above 'no man's land' and natural cycles such as the seasons gave a sense of renewal, and how animal 'troops' were inspirationally loyal.
From Nature ● Nov. 15, 2016
But the night was not silent; the little tree frogs that lived near the stream twittered like birds, and the high metallic ringing of the cicadas filled the mountain cleft.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
It helps nurture a slower, older way of life, with pocket flocks and modest dairy herds enclosed by thick hedgerows foaming with cow parsley and twittering songbirds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
On a long low wall alongside the Liangshui river in Beijing, a trader has several small cages with tiny twittering birds.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025
And the twittering masses erupted in debate again hours later when the Los Angeles Police Department announced it was not investigating the matter because Rock had declined to pursue criminal charges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
She was training a student in front of a cracked mirror in her garden during the interview in 2008, her hands fluttering and twittering as she moved, as supple as a girl.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2020
Some kind of bird started twittering in a tree farther down the road, otherwise all was silent.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
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