pairing

American  

[pair-ing] / ˈpɛər ɪŋ /

noun

1. a coupling.

2. Cell Biology. the lining up of the two homologous chromosomes or chromatids of each chromosome pair in meiosis or mitosis.

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Etymology

Origin of pairing

First recorded in 1605–15; pair + -ing ¹

Explanation

A pairing is a match between two things or people, like the perfect pairing of chocolate and peanut butter. Use this noun for two folks who work together as a perfect unit, like the pairing of your baseball team's pitcher and catcher, or two things that seem made for each other, like the classic pairing of grilled cheese and tomato soup. You can also describe the act of sorting people into pairs this way: "Our family's secret Santa pairing meant that I had to buy a gift for my great uncle again."

Example Sentences

The trend is also fueled by a contradictory pairing: families’ fierce desire to protect their babies and a cascade of false information infused into their social media algorithms.

From Salon • May 7, 2026

It works by pairing consultants with OpenAI’s FDEs to help companies use its AI products.

From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026

Training large-language models typically requires the pairing of Nvidia’s graphics processing units with HBM.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

The storytelling is wonky, given the film’s competing needs to be Miranda-blunt about the modern magazine business while pairing marvelously with a glass of rosé.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026

Always pairing adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine meant that the base sequences of the two intertwined chains were complementary to each other.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

Related Words

• union