verb (used without object)
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to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
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to talk lightly and rapidly, especially of trivial matters; chatter.
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to titter; giggle.
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to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.
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Digital Technology. tweet.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) (esp of a bird) to utter a succession of chirping sounds
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(intr) to talk or move rapidly and tremulously
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(intr) to giggle
her schoolmates twittered behind their desks
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(tr) to utter in a chirping way
noun
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a twittering sound, esp of a bird
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the act of twittering
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a state of nervous excitement (esp in the phrase in a twitter )
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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twittersimple
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twitterssimple
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have twitteredperfect
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has twitteredperfect
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am twitteringprogressive
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are twitteringprogressive
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is twitteringprogressive
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have been twitteringperfect progressive
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has been twitteringperfect progressive
Past
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twitteredsimple
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had twitteredperfect
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was twitteringprogressive
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were twitteringprogressive
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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
In response to the bid, Altman posted on Musk's social media platform X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 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
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
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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
Loder then accurately predicted that Webb “might be searching his name on Twitter after the game, which is never a great look.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Musk had bought the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
In the years after, Gracias or Valor invested in all of Musk’s projects, including Neuralink, the Boring Company, the Twitter acquisition and xAI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
I logged on to Twitter and typed Carmen Sánchez into the search box.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
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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 listened carefully for what Japanese teachers call children’s twitters — mumbled nuggets of inchoate thoughts that teachers can mold into the fully formed concept they are trying to teach.
From New York Times ● Jul. 23, 2014
In an age of 24/7 rolling news, blogs and twitters, we are on constant call wherever we are.
From Time ● Feb. 22, 2012
The teepee filled with the twitters of a bird and distant traffic.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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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
Yellow-wing twittered and pranced on his perch, excited as he watched her.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
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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
On a spring day, with wildflowers blooming and birds twittering, the war can seem far away.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2022
“Now you don’t have time to do that, because you’re twittering, you’re tweeting, you’re instagramming, you’re over in the corner hitting your keys, and you become shriveled and testy,” he said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2019
Linda Cruz looked up from the magazine they were twittering over and gave me a small, polite smile.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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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.