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
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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
-
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
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have twitteredperfect
-
has twitteredperfect
-
am twitteringprogressive
-
are twitteringprogressive
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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:
“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
Mr Yousaf confirmed the news on X formerly known as twitter, and posted a photo of the reunion.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2023
The Twitter logo began a transition to X last week, shortly after Musk tweeted: “and soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2023
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year, wrote on Twitter on July 23, “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
The birds all twitter up in a huff when they see me coming, making the camellia bush rattle.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Before Musk bought Twitter, Robinson—whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon—had been banned from the platform for posts deemed to be “hateful conduct.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
SpaceX counted all of that as a market it could compete for, because the company owns what used to be Twitter.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
It was then and remained so even at the height of blogs and Weird Twitter.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
It was November 2008 when Choi, with partners Mark Manguera and Caroline Shin-Manguera, rolled out the first Kogi truck with Korean BBQ tacos, using Twitter to announce where they’d be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 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
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
Gran twitters on for another five minutes, filling me in on mundane news: Heather has decided she wants to become a librarian.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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
Greeks showered him with love, twittered over his looks, and wrote adoring satires of his glamorous life and wide-ranging talents.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2015
The monkey hopped onto Ned’s shoulder and twittered with excitement.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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
Today’s readers, used to the twittering demotic of our age, may need to adjust to this titanic prose-poem’s leisurely, mandarin style.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2022
More silence, except for birds twittering and a dog barking somewhere.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
