"pairing" in the noun sense
1. coupling, mating, pairing, conjugation, union, sexual union
the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes
"the casual couplings of adolescents"
"the mating of some species occurs only in the spring"
2. pairing
the act of grouping things or people in pairs
"pairing" in the verb sense
1. pair, pair off, partner off, couple
form a pair or pairs
"The two old friends paired off"
2. match, mate, couple, pair, twin
bring two objects, ideas, or people together
"This fact is coupled to the other one"
"Matchmaker, can you match my daughter with a nice young man?"
"The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project"
3. pair, geminate
occur in pairs
4. pair, geminate
arrange in pairs
"Pair these numbers"
5. copulate, mate, pair, couple
engage in sexual intercourse
"Birds mate in the Spring"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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