kissing cousin

Definitions

1. A relatively distant relative, or a friend, who is familiar enough to be greeted with a kiss.
2. A thing which is related or similar to another thing.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“[A]fter the initial public brouhaha, wildlife administrators will suddenly decide⟳ that the classification of the Aleutian Canada goose as an endangered species was a gross mistake⟳ all along. Either the bird will be downgraded to "threatened" status—which means it can be hunted—or it will be declared a nonspecies, as has already happened to all its taxonomic kissing cousins.”

“Silicon is a “kissing cousin” of carbon. Notice⟳ it immediately below carbon in the Periodic Table. The arrangement of silicon’s outer electrons resembles those of carbon. For this reason⟳, silicon and carbon are chemically similar.”

CEFR level