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tweet

n. · v.
US //ˈtwit// UK //twˈiːt// tweet
  1. 1 bird sound (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

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

    the characteristic high-frequency vocalisation of a small bird.

    Example

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

    Example

    The silence of the forest was broken only by the occasional tweet of a hidden sparrow among the branches.
  2. 2 social media post (n.)
    A2 Elementary Computing

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

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

    Example

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

    Example

    The journalist's tweet went viral within minutes, garnering thousands of retweets and sparking a heated debate about public policy.
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  1. 3 to make a bird sound (v.)
    B1 Intermediate

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

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

    Example

    The little birds were tweeting in the trees all morning.

    Example

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

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

Word family

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