Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Overly precious or nice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as étui. Planché, p. 183.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective UK, pejorative Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective affectedly dainty or refined

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of tweet, baby-talk alteration of sweet.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From a childish pronunciation of sweet. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1905 in Punch.

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Examples

  • For example, when you are in babel's dutch language mode you can write twee "en in which" is a trema, which is not equivalent to twee\ "en, which is then (actually always) specifically an umlaut.

    Netvouz - new bookmarks 2010

  • For example, when you are in babel's dutch language mode you can write twee "en in which" is a trema, which is not equivalent to twee\ "en, which is then (actually always) specifically an umlaut.

    Netvouz - new bookmarks 2009

  • Yes, Juno's twee, and that's annoying, and no, twee is not the argument against that stupid flick that I want to push.

    SeeLight: 2008

  • Yes, Juno's twee, and that's annoying, and no, twee is not the argument against that stupid flick that I want to push.

    Why Juno Is Loathsome 2008

  • This audio labor of love for longtime friends Curt Kentner and Mark Rothkopf is built upon a deep-rooted love for the music-primarily anchored to the genre of indie pop, or the slightly less complimentary tag of "twee" - they've released over these past 10 years.

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • This audio labor of love for longtime friends Curt Kentner and Mark Rothkopf is built upon a deep-rooted love for the music-primarily anchored to the genre of indie pop, or the slightly less complimentary tag of "twee" - they've released over these past 10 years.

    AltWeeklies.com Site Feed 2009

  • WARD: The English have a word, twee, which is hard to define, but once you've been exposed to it, you know it when you hear it.

    The Best Of Apple Records' Albums: Beyond The Beatles 2010

  • WARD: The English have a word, twee, which is hard to define, but once you've been exposed to it, you know it when you hear it.

    The Best Of Apple Records' Albums: Beyond The Beatles 2010

  • WARD: The English have a word, twee, which is hard to define, but once you've been exposed to it, you know it when you hear it.

    The Best Of Apple Records' Albums: Beyond The Beatles 2010

  • WARD: The English have a word, twee, which is hard to define, but once you've been exposed to it, you know it when you hear it.

    The Best Of Apple Records' Albums: Beyond The Beatles 2010

Comments

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  • love this word

    June 20, 2009

  • Twee-pop, a very happy genre of music indeed.

    August 9, 2009

  • Elmer Fudd'ish for Tree

    February 19, 2013