| Noun | 1. | pairing - 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"sex activity, sexual activity, sexual practice - activities associated with sexual intercourse; "they had sex in the back seat" assortative mating - mating of individuals having more traits in common than likely in random mating disassortative mating - mating of individuals having traits more dissimilar than likely in random mating hybridisation, hybridization, hybridizing, interbreeding, crossbreeding, crossing, cross - (genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids inbreeding - the act of mating closely related individuals |
| 2. | pairing - the act of grouping things or people in pairs buddy system - a cooperative practice of pairing two or more people together for mutual assistance or safety (especially in recreational swimming) matchup, match-up - the pairing of people or things as for comparison or competition; "it was a good match-up but the home team won"; "we need a matchup of the best teachers with the neediest schools" grouping - the activity of putting things together in groups |