Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Relating to, resembling, or characteristic of parrots.
- adj. Of or belonging to the family Psittacidae, which includes the parrots, macaws, and parakeets.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Parrot-like; resembling or related to parrots; of or pertaining to the Psittaci or Psïttacidæ in any sense; psittacomorphic. Also psittacean, psittaceous, psittacid.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or pertaining to parrots.
- n. Any bird in the order Psittaciformes: a parrot.
Etymologies
- Ancient Greek ψιττακός (psittakos). (Wiktionary)
- Latin psittacīnus, from psittacus, parrot, from Greek psittakos. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As we digest the probability that the House of Commons will vote to ratify the EU Constitution without a single shred of democratic legitimacy, even the Guardian, which can normally be relied upon to peddle the Party Line in as psittacine a manner as it can manage, has felt moved to object to the present undemocratic outrage being perpetrated by Labour.”
“Usually it is those who seek the gratification of personal glory as well as the sound of the cash register who pump themselves full of this or that chemical, preferably one hitherto unknown to science so that the authorities, who religiously trot out the psittacine mantra that this is the most drug-free Olympics ever, are left flat-footed in their wake.”
“Thus, Irene writes in her book The Alex Studies, “the failure to document complex psittacine communication in the wild might be just that—a human failure, not a lack of capacity in parrots.””
“Jim Murphy, HMG's Europe Minster, a peddlar of the particularly psittacine mantra about the constitutional concept being abandoned, has written a defence of the EU Constitution here for the Spectator.”
“He has recited the psittacine mantra “The constitutional concept has been abandoned” so often that he has come to believe it.”
“Almost the only positive thing he can do is repeat, almost ad nauseam, the psittacine mantras of how wonderful everything has been since 1997 and financial stability.”
“And telling us that they have binned the anthem and the flag and the word ‘constitution’ will not do, nor will trotting out the singularly psittacine mantra of 'the constitutional concept is abandoned'.”
“GROS: This gorgeous hyacinth macaw, the largest psittacine in the world is a spectacular example of why we need to continue to save the rainforest.”
“Enter the nerdy ornithologist Tulio Rodrigo Santoro, who persuades Linda to ship her psittacine buddy back to Brazil for the betterment of his dwindling species.”
“The incidence of infection in canaries and finches is believed to be lower than in psittacine birds.”
WN.com - Articles related to Indonesia girl dies from bird flu, 3 undergo tests
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘psittacine’.
-
phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
-
250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
-
Starts with a silent letter
...with grateful thanks to telofy (for "cnidarian"), and to the song "Crazy ABC's" by Barenaked Ladies.
cnidarian, mnemonic, chthonic, ptarmigan, psoriasis, psittacine, bdellium, aisle, czar, gnarly, gnat, gnaw and 82 more...
-
Awesome biological adjectives
vespine, virulent, viviparous, vulpine, vulturine, xeromorphic, ursine, ungulate, terricolous, sylvan, setaceous, sciurine and 14 more...
-
i heart words
autarkic, cline, aver, limn, gossamer, ochre, fulminate, twee, augur, mollify, maw, ecumenical and 113 more...
-
Flightful Forays
trips from El Nido
vireo, tanager, scaup, lark, killdear, falcon, cormorant, becard, avocet, accipiter, peregrine, remex and 135 more...
-
Beastly adjectives
How would you describe your brother-in-law? Is he a tad bovine? Maybe there is something lacertilian about him? Or his business practices seem a little percesocine to you.
dasyproctine, tolypeutine, asinine, feline, canine, eusuchian, simian, musteline, cervine, caprine, percesocine, hirudine and 227 more...
-
Animal-ine
feline, leonine, vulpine, canine, ranine, elephantine, serpentine, cervine, ovine, porcine, aquinine, asinine and 171 more...
-
2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
-
rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3251 more...
-
Things Avian
Wordies relating to birdies. :-)
calidrid, corvid, avian, avifauna, beak, brood, aerie, altricial, albumen, winged, wattle, covey and 217 more...
-
all greek to me
Words or phrases containing one or more letters of the Greek alphabet.
alphabet, beta blocker, gamma rays, mississippi delta, zalambdalestes, kathetal, kappamaki, cytomegalovirus, acromegalic, chylomicronemia, zetacrit, gamma knife and 12 more...
-
Animaline
Animal words ending in -ine
bovine, porcine, taurine, ursine, leonine, murcine, piscine, elephantine, serpentine, vulpine, zebrine, feline and 16 more...
-
Conference of the Birds
I like bird names, raptors in particular. That's all.
raptor, eagle, gyrfalcon, gyrkin, haggard, harrier, falcon, peregrine, hawk, lammergeier, kite, kestrel and 30 more...
-
Animal -ines cheat sheet
As I compiled this list, I thought it would be so much nicer to show a short definition with each. If I was looking for a particular animal, I would have to click each one which may or may not give...
vulpine, porcine, lupine, picine, lyncine, bovine, feline, equine, canine, leporine, asinine, piscine and 29 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for psittacine.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.