Peer means someone who is your equal in age, ability, or status. Your peers are the other students in your classroom, the kids on your soccer team, or anyone else at roughly the same level as you in a particular context.

The word captures an important idea: equality. Your teacher isn't your peer because they have authority over you. Your little brother isn't your peer because he's younger and at a different stage of life. But your classmates are your peers because you're all students together, learning the same material and facing similar challenges.

Scientists talk about peer review, where researchers evaluate each other's work before it gets published. This works because peers understand the subject deeply enough to spot problems or recognize breakthroughs. In school, you might do peer editing, reading and improving each other's essays.

Peer pressure refers to the influence your peers have on your choices and behavior. If everyone in your friend group starts playing a certain game, you might feel pressure to join them. Sometimes peer pressure encourages good choices, like when friends motivate each other to study harder. Other times it pushes people toward poor decisions.

As a verb, to peer means something different: to look closely or searchingly at something, often while squinting. You might peer into a dark closet or peer at tiny writing on a map.