TWINS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Twins mean? 

• TWINS (noun)
  The noun TWINS has 2 senses:

1. (mineralogy) two interwoven crystals that are mirror images on each other

2. the third sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about May 21 to June 20

  Familiarity information: TWINS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TWINS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(mineralogy) two interwoven crystals that are mirror images on each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("twins" is a kind of...):

crystal (a solid formed by the solidification of a chemical and having a highly regular atomic structure)

Domain category:

mineralogy (the branch of geology that studies minerals: their structure and properties and the ways of distinguishing them)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The third sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about May 21 to June 20

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Gemini; Gemini the Twins; Twins

Instance hypernyms:

house; mansion; planetary house; sign; sign of the zodiac; star sign ((astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is divided)

 Context examples 

Studies of twins have shown that variation in body weight is largely influenced by our genes.

(Slim people have a genetic advantage when it comes to maintaining their weight, University of Cambridge)

Researchers took blood samples from 11 pairs of identical twins with different sleep patterns and discovered that the twin with shorter sleep duration had a depressed immune system, compared with his or her sibling.

(Chronic Sleep Deprivation Suppresses Immune System, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Similarly, compared to single-born children, twins were more likely to belong to the highest screen time group.

(High amounts of screen time begin as early as infancy, National Institutes of Health)

A full moon in the Twins sign of Gemini could point to two assignments that need to be finished or two clients or executives who need your attention.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother’s re-marriage.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Kate is older than you, Fred and Frank (twins) about my age, and a little girl (Grace), who is nine or ten.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

This confirms previous research examining empathy in identical versus non-identical twins.

(Study finds that genes play a role in empathy, University of Cambridge)

On the other hand, non-identical twins had scores of 0.35 and 0.44, respectively, while non-sibling pairs had scores of 0.16 and 0.13.

(Children’s visual engagement is heritable and altered in autism, National Institutes of Health)

They may be twins of a sort.

(A 'Tail' of Two Comets, NASA)

A rare phenomenon in which the bodies of two identical twins are joined in the uterus.

(Conjoined Twins, NCI Thesaurus)