Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A mammal (Proteles cristatus) native to southern and eastern Africa that resembles the hyena, has gray fur with black stripes, and feeds mainly on termites and insect larvae.
Etymologies
- From Afrikaans aarde ("earth"), from Middle Dutch aerde + Afrikaans wolf ("wolf"). (Wiktionary)
- Afrikaans : aarde, earth (from Middle Dutch aerde; see er-2 in Indo-European roots) + wolf, wolf (from Middle Dutch; see wl̥kwo- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I started with aardvark, calling it a burrowing insectivorous mammal, then aardwolf, a hyena-like mammal, making my way to acclimate—to accustom or become accustomed to new surroundings or circumstances.”
“Coming so soon after the euphoria in Washington over the toppling of Saddam, the August aardwolf seemed to many within the Bush administration to be far too negative.”
“As of early November 2003, the aardwolf explained, the insurgency in central and northern Iraq was gaining momentum and beginning to tip the balance against the Americans.”
“Senior U.S. military officers in Baghdad bitterly complained that they had been “blindsided” by the aardwolf, and tensions grew between the CIA and the Pentagon.”
“Top CIA officials initially praised the November aardwolf, and one told the Baghdad station chief that it was the best aardwolf he had ever read.”
““When I read that November aardwolf,” said a CIA official who knew the Baghdad station chief, “I thought that he was committing career suicide.””
“The aardwolf clearly caught the attention of the White House and Pentagon.”
“And in late 2004, when a new CIA station chief—the successor to the officer pulled in December 2003—wrote another aardwolf reporting on the deadly conditions in Iraq, his political allegiances were quickly questioned by the White House, CIA officials later learned.”
“The August aardwolf said that the UN bombing was part of a strategy by a new and bold insurgency to discredit and isolate the U.S.-led coalition, and warned that insurgents and terrorists had the capability to carry many more attacks against “soft targets.””
“After his aardwolf circulated in Washington, then–U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte heard from an official at the National Security Council.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aardwolf’.
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SECOND LETTER A
Words in which the second letter is A
Aa, AAA, Baba, Babe, Babel, AAAA, tangential, baby, bach, back, bad, bade and 90 more...
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Ar!
ar, Ar, argon, are, area, arf, arc, ark, aardwolf, aardvark, aardcucumber, yardarm and 253 more...
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A to abominator (Chambers)
aa gets over 40 hits
aardvark 49 hits
abbatoir 103 hits
abjure 138 hitsA, A 1, aa, A-line, A-list, A-lister, A-road, A-side, from A to B, from A to Z, A-bomb, A-effect and 254 more...
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stripes and bands
variegated armadillos and other asundry bands and stripes
fajada, raye, apar, fasciated, hemigalus, numbat, onyx, tatouay, tortrix, coquina, peba, myrmecobius and 113 more...
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summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
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Negasonic Teenage Warhead
"Wow, we really have run out of names."
Codenames of superheroes, supervillains, etc. (that are actual words, or unique spellings of actual words).rogue, gambit, wolverine, storm, cyclops, phoenix, cypher, beast, berzerker, toad, avalanche, magma and 125 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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A
Well, here comes all the words that begin with an A.
Wish me luckaardvark, aardwolf, aaron, aaronic, ab, aba, abaca, aback, abacterial, abacus, abaft, abalone and 65 more...
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oo ee oo aa aa
Words that start with a double letter. Suggestions welcome!
eerie, eel, oolite, oozy, aardvark, oops, oology, oolong, ooh, oomiak, oomph, oospore and 15 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aardwolf.
chained_bear Sionnach, please add aardcucumber if you haven't already.
Thanks,
Ethel. Mar 5, 2008
reesetee Aardcucumbers must be cute, though. One can only imagine.
But still not as cute as an ambulatory watermelon. Mar 5, 2008
cricket Sionnach, I'm not sure I even wanna know what you mean by aardcucumber... Mar 5, 2008
sionnach What a delightful portrait of domestic bliss. These charming reformed carnivores sound like true aardapples of the earth. Or maybe I mean aardcucumbers:
ethel the quantity-surveying aardvark goes for a nosh
Not as cute as those baby watermelon tapirs though. Mar 5, 2008
john "The most solitary of all the spotted hyena’s relatives is the aardwolf. Instead of hunting or scavenging meat, they have shifted to a diet of termites. A male and female aardwolf will live as a monogamous pair, caring for their young and defending their termite mounds from intruders."
- The New York Times, March 4, 2008 Mar 4, 2008