# twinning

Pronunciation: say "TWIN-ing" /ˈtwɪnɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of twin. — present participle and gerund of twin
   - Simple: Present participle of twin. Use this form for the ongoing act of pairing two things.
   - _The council is twinning the town with a city in France._
   - _Engineers are twinning the two data centers for backup._

## Noun

2. An arrangement in which two towns, or other similar places, are formally paired as partners.
   - Simple: When two towns or other similar places are joined as official partners.
   - _The twinning of Oxford and a German city dates back decades._
   - _Several councils approved new twinning agreements this year._
3. The biological process of producing two offspring in a single pregnancy.
   - Simple: The making of two babies during a single pregnancy.
   - _Twinning occurs more often in older mothers._
   - _Researchers studied the genetics behind twinning in cattle._
4. The act of delivering two offspring in a single birth.
   - Simple: Bringing two babies into the world in one birth.
   - _Her twinning was attended by two midwives._
   - _The flock's high rate of twinning pleased the shepherd._
6. The conversion of a road into a divided highway, with separate lanes for each direction of traffic.
   - Simple: Changing a single road into a wider one with a barrier separating the two directions.
   - _The twinning of the interstate took three years to complete._
   - _Local officials approved funding for the highway's twinning._
7. The formation of twin crystals, two or more crystals intergrown in a symmetrical, related orientation.
   - Simple: When two crystals grow joined together in a matching pattern.
   - _Twinning in quartz often produces visible boundary lines._
   - _Geologists noted extensive twinning in the rock sample._
8. A form of identity transformation in which a subject changes into a copy or clone of another person.
   - Simple: A change in which a person becomes an exact copy of someone else.
   - _The novel's twinning left two identical versions of the same man._
   - _Through twinning, the spy took on the exact appearance of the ambassador._

## Adjective

5. Yielding two offspring from a single pregnancy.
   - Simple: Giving birth to two young from a single pregnancy.
   - _Breeders select for twinning traits in their flocks._
   - _A twinning mare is uncommon among horses._

## Origin

Formed from "twin" combined with the suffix "-ing".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/twinning (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).