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