Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
name
An online social networking and microblogging service; officially known as X since 2023.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: trademark
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bird app, birdsite
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: business, electrical-engineering, electricity, electromagnetism, electronics, energy, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A tremulous broken sound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A slight trembling of the nerves.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, countable, informal, regional
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving; a twit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, archaic
Topics: business, manufacturing, textiles, weaving
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A user account on Twitter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet, informal
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A feed on Twitter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet, informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A community on Twitter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet, in-compounds, informal, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: -twt
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To utter a succession of chirps.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
(of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Alternative form of Twitter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tweet
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To tweet; to post an update to Twitter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet, ambitransitive, proscribed, sometimes
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tweet
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a series of chirps
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: chirrup
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sound
verb
make high-pitched sounds, as of birds
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: chitter
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: peep, cheep, chirp, chirrup
History
From twitter (“to utter a succession of chirps”).
From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).
Origin unknown; possibly related to twine, twist, and twirl.
Across languages
87 source translations are retained for this English entry.
