PASSERINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does passerine mean? 

• PASSERINE (noun)
  The noun PASSERINE has 1 sense:

1. perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless

  Familiarity information: PASSERINE used as a noun is very rare.

• PASSERINE (adjective)
  The adjective PASSERINE has 1 sense:

1. relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds

  Familiarity information: PASSERINE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PASSERINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

passeriform bird; passerine

Hypernyms ("passerine" is a kind of...):

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "passerine"):

oscine; oscine bird (passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus)

sparrow; true sparrow (any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects)

lyrebird (Australian bird that resembles a pheasant; the courting male displays long tail feathers in a lyre shape)

scrub-bird; scrub bird; scrubbird (small fast-running Australian bird resembling a wren and frequenting brush or scrub)

broadbill (small birds of the Old World tropics having bright plumage and short wide bills)

tyrannid (a passerine bird of the suborder Tyranni)

jenny wren; wren (any of several small active brown birds of the northern hemisphere with short upright tails; they feed on insects)

Holonyms ("passerine" is a member of...):

order Passeriformes; Passeriformes (largest order of birds comprising about half the known species; rooks; finches; sparrows; tits; warblers; robins; wrens; swallows; etc.; the four suborders are Eurylaimi and Tyranni and Menurae and Oscines or Passeres)

Derivation:

passerine (relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds)

• PASSERINE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Antonym:

nonpasserine (relating to or characteristic of birds that are not perching birds)

Pertainym:

passerine (perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless)

Derivation:

passerine (perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless)