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Definition of cousin noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

cousin

noun
 
/ˈkʌzn/
 
/ˈkʌzn/
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  1. (also first cousin)
    a child of your aunt or uncle
    • She's my cousin.
    • We're cousins.
    • This is my cousin Richard.
    • He's a cousin once removed (= separated by one generation of our family).
    • She's a cousin of the bride.
    • cousin to somebody He claims to be a cousin to the King.
    see also country cousin, second cousin
    Extra Examples
    • Completely out of the blue, she got a letter from her long-lost cousin in New York.
    • I have a new baby cousin.
    Topics Family and relationshipsa1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • first
    • second
    • distant
    phrases
    • cousin once, twice, etc. removed
    See full entry
  2. a person who is in your wider family but who is not closely related to you
    • She's some sort of cousin, I think.
    • cousin of somebody/sb's He's a distant cousin of mine.
    see also kissing cousinTopics Family and relationshipsb1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • first
    • second
    • distant
    phrases
    • cousin once, twice, etc. removed
    See full entry
  3. [usually plural] a way of describing people from another country who are similar in some way to people in your own country
    • our American cousins
  4. [usually plural] a way of describing things that are similar or related in some way
    • Asian elephants are smaller than their African cousins.
    • These pigs are close cousins of the wild hog.
  5. Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French cosin, from Latin consobrinus ‘mother's sister's child’, from con- ‘with’ + sobrinus ‘second cousin’ (from soror ‘sister’).
See cousin in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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