Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Existing in a wild or untamed state.
- adj. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication.
- adj. Of or suggestive of a wild animal; savage: a feral grin.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to wild beasts; wild; ferine; ferous; existing in a state of nature; not domesticated or artificially bred: as, the mallard is the feral stock of the domestic duck.
- Run wild; having escaped from domestication and reverted to a state of nature.
- Like a wild beast; characteristic of wild beasts; brutal; savage.
- In astrology, said of a planet which has no significant relation to any other.
- Funereal; pertaining to funerals; mournful; fatal; cruel.
Wiktionary
- adj. Wild, untamed, especially of domesticated animals having returned to the wild.
- adj. of a person Contemptible, unruly, misbehaved.
- n. A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
- n. Australia, colloquial A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
- n. Australia, colloquial A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Wild; untamed; ferine; not domesticated; -- said of beasts, birds, and plants.
- adj. rare Funereal; deadly; fatal; dangerous.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. wild and menacing
Etymologies
- Latin ferus ("wild"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin fera, wild animal, from ferus, wild; see ghwer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As Hélène Mulholland reports, Godwin told the London assembly that "the fact that the term feral is still being used in terms of young people in our inner city … is a great challenge to us as a city.”
“The use of the term "feral" was first used in about 2000 following the death of Damilola Taylor.”
“Colonel Hamilton Smith, the able writer on dogs, does not acknowledge some of these wild races, but thinks they are what he calls feral, or domestic dogs which have regained their liberty, and have subsisted for many generations on their own intelligence.”
“Normally the word feral refers to a domestic animal that has gone wild, but it’s also used to describe people the general populace believes have done the same.”
“He is and has for many years been engaged in feral cat rescue; I have seen him stop on the street to give a homeless man money -- and an argument, because with Peter, everything comes with an argument.”
“There was a little fly in our bungalow that I adopted and named Wings, and I called the feral cat that howled for food Legs.”
“Let the kids wander the streets in feral fashion for a few years and then when they are fully human they can go back to the classroom.”
“But now they're moaning in feral ecstasy, overcoming the powerful negativity of the place -- the broken branches and dried-out logs -- with the juices of the life force itself.”
“Researchers have utilized a novel technique to reveal that in feral chickens, the simple stimulus generated by male mounting -- in the absence of actual insemination -- reduces the sexual promiscuity of a hen.”
“The rioters are called feral youth, sometimes feral scum, vermin, wild beasts or street jackals.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘feral’.
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
driving, implement, Trot, speed, exhale, dope, obstacle, tail, plow, coloration, para, weaving and 678 more...
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Them's Fighting Words
annihilate, clandestine, conflagration, enmity, feral, furtive, impede, intrepid, pacify, pugnacious, ruse, stratagem and 5 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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The Red Pyramid
SAS Gr. 7 EAL Book Read
amulet, relic, hieroglyphics, decipher, ominous, curator, boomerang, vague, agitated, obelisk, linger, hereditary and 37 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1858 more...
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SAT words
abase, abate, abet, abject, abjure, abrogate, abscond, abstruse, accolade, accommodating, accost, accretion and 202 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Verba Silvestria
Words of the Woods or Words of the Wilds
sylvestral, sylvester, silvester, silvestrian, sylvestrian, silvatic, sylvatic, silvan, sylvan, silva, sylva, nemorose and 108 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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gerwitz's Words
erudite, autodidactic, callipygian, ouroboros, zounds, fie, wabi, sabi, gedankenexperiment, zeitgeist, eliminativism, aether and 157 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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Words I will probably never use
décolleté, pendragon, amerce, viviparous, dragoon, brigand, outlaw, outlawry, lugubrious, boor, contretemps, decrepit and 151 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for feral.
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