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.
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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
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(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:
Altman responded on X, saying, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
This month, novelist Daniel Torday posted, “This space has become almost as unusable as twitter was. I’m out.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 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
"For us she is Ashling. For many her story will haunt the internet through clickbait articles, trending twitter threads and invasive podcast episodes, using the contents of her story for popularity."
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2023
The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
He’s even scored shorts for filmmakers he met through Twitter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Investors who backed Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter had been underwater for months following the 2022 deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Twitter Democrats stuck by Platner, believing that he was a good avatar for working-class politics and that real voters wouldn’t care that he was rough around the edges.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
We are living through the era of the exploding rocket ships and the Cybertruck, and Twitter and Grok, the world’s most advanced money furnace.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
“Why not? Who is he? Name. Address. Social security number. Twitter and Instagram handles.”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
African wild dogs have thus evolved to stay under the radar, communicating in twitters best captured by wild dog ears, and steering clear of places where lions and hyenas — and now humans — abound.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2022
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
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
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
Tara Helen O’Connor and Rane Moore puffed through primitive ocarinas and twittered almost inaudibly on nano-tonal mouth organs: blocky clusters of dog whistles, invented by Mr. Adán.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2012
The brother-in-law growled in his throat like a happy tomcat and the pregnant ladies twittered like alouettes singing to the sun.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" 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
Hansen’s Johanna, the young woman who’s under jealous Judge Turpin’s lock and key, is appropriately bird-like in her melodious twittering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2019
She sings over a twittering ensemble of flutes, saxophones and trumpets; six of the tunes are arranged by the perennial Grammy winner Gil Goldstein.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2017
The harsh cicada seemed to take up its melody, and the twittering tree frogs called little phrases of it.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
