twee en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /twiː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From a childish pronunciation of sweet. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1905 in Punch.
Meanings
-
(Ireland, UK, derogatory) Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.
Despite the fact that the designs were all a bit twee […] they stood out a mile in the market place at that time.
1999, Janet Foster, Docklands: Urban Change and Conflict in a Community in Transition, London; Philadelphia, Pa.: UCL Press, →ISBN, page 82:[Neil] Tennant's accent obviously has a lot to do with that, but the fact he's rapping is further masked by his twee, effeminate delivery.
2015 June 2, Kenneth Partridge, “With ‘West End Girls,’ Pet Shop Boys set a high standard for U.K. hip-hop”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Sep 2015:Forget the clichéd image of Brigadoon and shortbread tins, the dreadfully twee tartan tat and Celtic kitsch that, sadly, still exists in the 21st century, and is too often passed off as a genuine Highland experience.
2001, Alan Murphy, Scotland Highlands & Islands Handbook: The Travel Guide, Bath, Somerset: Footprint Handbooks, →ISBN, page 11:As always with Disney, there are moments when it all seems a bit twee, others when it is excessively PC.
2002, Peter Ellison, Essential Non-fiction, Dublin: Folens Publishers, →ISBN, page 40:Ms. Roman said she embraced “messy” as a philosophy and an aesthetic partly in response to Ms. Stewart’s standards. “Everything perfect, everything twee, everything pretty,” she said. “That was never going to be me.”
2025 November 3, Julia Moskin, quoting Alison Roman, “Martha Stewart Transformed the Dinner Party. Was That a Good Thing?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:Those Beatrix Potter animals are a little twee for my taste.
I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying, "I am a duckbilled platypus, and this is how I find my shrimps." I think it would have been twee.
2005 September 8, Stephen S. Hall, quoting Richard Dawkins, “Darwin's Rottweiler: Sir Richard Dawkins: Evolution's fiercest champion, far too fierce”, in Discover, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2016:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more twee | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most twee | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| tweer | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| tweest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
precious · syrupy · cutesy · saccharine
Translations (6)
pt piegas (Translations) · sv pimpinett (Translations) · pl cukierkowaty (Translations) · cs vyumělkovaný (Translations) · pl przesłodzony (Translations) · cs přeslazený (Translations)