English Reference
noun · verb

tweet

n. · v.
US /ˈtwit/ UK /twˈiːt/ tweet UK spelling tweeted, tweets

  1. 01 B1 Intermediate

    n.the short, high-pitched sound made by a small bird.

    n.the characteristic high-frequency vocalisation of a small bird.

    Simple

    I woke up to the soft tweet of a bird outside my window.

    In context

    The silence of the forest was broken only by the occasional tweet of a hidden sparrow among the branches.

    chirpchirruptwitter
  2. 02 A2 Elementary Computing

    n.a short message or update posted on the social media platform Twitter (now called X).

    n.a short digital communication posted on the microblogging service Twitter; now often used generically for similar short-form social media updates.

    Simple

    The president's latest tweet caused a lot of discussion online.

    In context

    The journalist's tweet went viral within minutes, garnering thousands of retweets and sparking a heated debate about public policy.

  3. 03 B1 Intermediate

    v.to make a short, high-pitched sound like a bird.

    v.to emit a short, high-pitched sound; typically used of birds or small mechanical whistles.

    Simple

    The little birds were tweeting in the trees all morning.

    In context

    As the sun began to rise, dozens of birds started tweeting in a chaotic but pleasant dawn chorus.


Onomatopoeic of the sound made by a bird. Compare twitter. The social media senses evolved from earlier Twitter update, twit (noun), twitter (verb).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level A2 · Elementary
Frequency Common
Updated