Meaning & use

cattle car

noun·Advanced

A railway freight car built to transport livestock, or a crowded vehicle used to move people in cramped, inhumane conditions.

See it in a sentence

Ranchers loaded the steers into a cattle car bound for the stockyards early that morning.

Historians describe how prisoners were packed into cattle cars during forced deportations in the war.

A note on using this word

Beyond its literal use for livestock transport, cattle car is often used figuratively for any overcrowded, degrading form of transport.

Words with a similar meaning

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