Kin

/kɪn/ · noun

Meaning

Race; family; breed; kind..

Definitions by Sense

1. Race; family; breed; kind.
2. (collectively) Persons of the same race or family; kindred.
3. One or more relatives, such as siblings or cousins, taken collectively.
4. Relationship; same-bloodedness or affinity; near connection or alliance, as of those having common descent.
5. (uncommon) Related by blood or marriage, akin. (It is more common to form sentences using the noun instead.)
6. Alternative form of qin (“Chinese string instrument”).
7. (transitive, fandom slang) To identify with; as in spiritually connect to a fictional or non-fictional being.
8. (fandom slang) A fictional or non-fictional being whom one spiritually connects to.

Example Sentences

the starfish and its kin the sea urchin

c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers You are of kin, and so must be a friend to their persons.

Based on the number of teeth ammonites had—nine—it's believed that their closest living kin are octopuses.

Among those who derive information related to work from personal contacts, nonkins, rather than kins, constitute the most important sources even for women.

Such sensations, however, were too near a kin to resentment to be long guiding Fanny's soliloquies.

It turns out my back-fence neighbor is kin to one of my co-workers.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kin.

... and our feeling together had made us forget what-ever there'd been between us to forget about. And I ain't ever in my life felt so kin to folks. I felt kinner than I knew I was. That night, tired as I was, I walked[…]

Synonyms for kin

Antonyms for kin

Related Words

Word Forms

• kins
• kin
• kinning
• kinned

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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