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sister

noun

Simple meaning

A female person who has the same parents as another person.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sister

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɪstɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A female person who has the same parents as another person

  2. A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.

  3. A female person who is a fellow member of a sorority or labor union or other group

    “None of her sisters would betray her.”

  4. Title of respect for an adult female member of a religious order.

  5. A female member of a religious order; especially one devoted to more active service; (informal) a nun.

  6. Any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt through the same biological sex, gender or common membership in a community, race, profession, religion, organization, or ism.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A female person who has the same parents as another person

Used this way, sister is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • sis , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use sister

  • “My sister married a musician.”noun
  • “None of her sisters would betray her.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

sister maryelder sisterdear sister

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sister shipnounCompound term

    A ship that is one of two or more similar ships built at the same time.

  • sister-in-lawnounCompound term

    The sister of your spouse.

  • half sisternounCompound term

    A sister who has only one parent in common with you.

  • little sisternounCompound term

    A younger sister.

  • sob sisternounCompound term

    A journalist who specializes in sentimental stories.

  • big sisternounCompound term

    An older sister.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: female person who has the same parents as another person

brothersisInformal

Antonyms

Sense: female person who has the same parents as another person

brother

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.