sibling
Americannoun
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a brother or sister.
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Anthropology. a comember of a sib, a unilateral descent group thought to share kinship through a common ancestor.
adjective
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of or relating to a brother or sister.
sibling rivalry.
noun
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a person's brother or sister
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( as modifier )
sibling rivalry
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any fellow member of a sib
Other Word Forms
- half-sibling noun
Etymology
Origin of sibling
before 1000; late Middle English: relative, Old English; sib, -ling 1
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.
She didn’t tell me and my sibling about it at the time, and instead hired an accountant to help her.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026
That risk increases to 10 percent if a parent or sibling is affected, and rises to 50 percent for identical twins.
From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026
Zookeepers intend to introduce him soon to a new sibling — Clover, a female mountain lion cub rescued from El Dorado County earlier in March.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Harrison says sibling spats were the least of the pair's worries as they took on the voyage.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
Farmer’s sorcery consult was with an elderly woman who blamed one of her sons, angry and jealous of a brother, for “sending” a sickness that killed the sibling.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.