cousin

cous‧in S2 /ˈkʌzən/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: cosin, from Latin consobrinus, from com- ( ⇨ COM-) + sobrinus 'cousin on the mother's side' (from soror 'sister')]
1. the child of your ↑uncle or ↑aunt ⇨ ↑first cousin, ↑kissing cousin, SECOND COUSIN
2. something that has the same origins as something else
cousin of/to
a drug that is a chemical cousin to amphetamines
close/distant cousin
The Alaskan brown bear is a close cousin of the grizzly bear.
3. someone or something that is similar to someone or something else:
His avant-garde music, sometime cousin to jazz, had limited appeal.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

cousin

cousin [cousin cousins] [ˈkʌzn] [ˈkʌzn] noun
1. (also ˌfirst ˈcousin) a child of your aunt or uncle
• She's my cousin.
• We're cousins.

see also country cousin, second cousin

2. a person who is in your wider family but who is not closely related to you

• He's a distant cousin of mine.

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.
See also: first cousin
Word Origin:
Middle English: from Old French cosin, from Latin consobrinus ‘mother's sister's child’, from con- ‘with’ + sobrinus ‘second cousin’ (from soror ‘sister’).
Example Bank:
• Completely out of the blue, she got a letter from her long-lost cousin in New York.
• I have a new baby cousin.
• She's my first cousin once removed.
• These pigs are close cousins of the wild hog.

• the popular idea that creativity and madness are kissing cousins

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition

cousin / ˈkʌz. ə n / noun [ C ]

A2 ( also first cousin ) a child of a person's aunt or uncle, or, more generally, a distant (= not close) relation:

My brother's wife and I both had babies around the same time, so the cousins are very close in age.

Many of our distant cousins, whom we hadn't seen for years, came to my sister's wedding.

a member of a group of people with similar origins:

We Americans owe a great deal to our European cousins.

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

cousin

[kʌ̱z(ə)n]
♦♦
cousins
1) N-COUNT: oft with poss Your cousin is the child of your uncle or aunt.
→ See also second cousin
  My cousin Mark helped me...
  We are cousins.
  Syn:
  first cousin
2) N-COUNT If you refer to two things or groups of people as cousins, you mean that they are equivalents or that there is a connection between them.
→ See also country cousin
  Whereas West Germans drink wine, their Eastern cousins prefer Schnapps...
  The average European kitchen is smaller than its American cousin.
  ...misanthropy and its cousin racism.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

cousin

cous·in /ˈkʌzən/ noun, pl -ins [count]
1 a : a child of your uncle or aunt - called also first cousin,
- see also second cousin
b : a person who is related to you but not in a close or direct way
• Everyone came to the wedding, including a distant cousin no one had heard from in years.
- see also kissing cousin
2 : a person who is from another country but whose culture is similar to your own
• our English cousins
3 : something that is similar or related to something else
• The cricket is a cousin of the grasshopper.
• hurricanes and their cousins, typhoons