nonidentical

adjective

non·​iden·​ti·​cal ˌnän-(ˌ)ī-ˈden-ti-kəl How to pronounce nonidentical (audio)
-ə-ˈden-
1
2
: fraternal sense 2
nonidentical twins

Examples of nonidentical in a Sentence

the nonidentical bullet fragments were presented as evidence that more than one gun was involved
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The likelihood of giving birth to nonidentical twins three times in a row is very low, said Angela Silber, the doctor who delivered Alarcon’s latest twins via C-section last month after seeing that one of the babies was in a breech position. Washington Post, 6 May 2022 Started in 2018 by British public health researcher Tim Spector, the study has followed more than 1,100 mostly healthy adults in the U.S. and Britain, including hundreds of identical and nonidentical twins. Anahad O’Connor New York Times, Star Tribune, 28 Jan. 2021 Not only does face blindness often run in families, but the face-recognition ability of identical twins is much more similar than that of nonidentical ones. Sarah Bate, Scientific American, 26 Dec. 2019 The toddlers, 18 months to 24 months old, included 250 children who were developing normally (41 pairs of identical twins, 42 pairs of nonidentical twins and 84 children unrelated to each other). Pam Belluck, New York Times, 12 July 2017 The study design allows researchers to compare identical twins, who have the same genetic makeup, with nonidentical twins, who are more different genetically, but grow up in the same family environment at the same time. Perri Klass, M.d., New York Times, 19 June 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nonidentical was in 1890

Dictionary Entries Near nonidentical

Cite this Entry

“Nonidentical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonidentical. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

nonidentical

adjective
: not identical
especially : fraternal
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!