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Synonyms

twain

1 American  
[tweyn] / tweɪn /

adjective

  1. two.

Twain 2 American  
[tweyn] / tweɪn /

noun

  1. Mark, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Twain 1 British  
/ tweɪn /

noun

  1. Mark , pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens . 1835–1910, US novelist and humorist, famous for his classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)

  2. Shania (ʃəˈnaɪə), real name Eilleen Regina Edwards. born 1965, Canadian country-rock singer; her bestselling recordings include The Woman In Me (1995) Come On Over (1997), and UP! (2002)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
twain 2 British  
/ tweɪn /

determiner

  1. an archaic word for two

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of twain

before 900; Middle English twayn originally, nominative and accusative masculine, Old English twēgen ( two ); cognate with obsolete German zween

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When the wind blows hard, and their branches and boughs thrash and creak, I am convinced they will topple over and cleave my home in twain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

As long as the twain never meet, we’re good — and by we, I mean humankind.

From New York Times • Mar. 28, 2024

“This is one of the evils of the ‘two cultures’ myth,” he says: Some students are channeled into scientific subjects, and others into humanities, and “never the twain shall meet.”

From Science Magazine • Jan. 18, 2023

Writing was writing, art was art, and never the twain should meet.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2022

And at Batavia High School, never the twain shall meet.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.