Meaning & use
wildfowl
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Meaning
nounplural
wild birds that live near water, especially ducks, geese, and swans.
Grammar: Usually plural; it has no separate plural form. Say 'wildfowl are', not 'wildfowls are'.
Patterns
- wildfowl are
- a species of wildfowl
- hunt wildfowl
The lake is home to many kinds of wildfowl.
Wildfowl gather in large numbers during the winter.
The reserve protects wildfowl from hunters.
Common combinations
- wildfowl and wetlands
- The trust works to protect wildfowl and wetlands.
- a wildfowl sanctuary
- We visited a wildfowl sanctuary near the coast.
- wintering wildfowl
- Wintering wildfowl arrive in October.
- shoot wildfowl
- It is illegal to shoot wildfowl in the spring.
Synonyms and how they differ
- waterfowl
- Waterfowl is the more common term in American English and includes the same birds.
- game birds
- Game birds are birds hunted for sport or food; not all game birds are wildfowl.
Word family
- fowl noun
- a bird, especially a domestic one kept for eggs or meat
- wildfowler noun
- a person who hunts wildfowl
Commonly confused: wildfowl or wildflower? wildfowl or poultry?
wildfowl vs wildflower
A wildflower is a flower growing in nature, not a bird.
wildfowl vs poultry
Poultry means domestic birds kept for meat or eggs, not wild ones.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
Option 1 is correct because wildfowl is a plural collective noun. Option 0 is wrong because it treats wildfowl as a single countable bird. Option 2 is wrong because you do not buy a wildfowl as a single item. Option 3 is wrong because 'wildfowls' is not a standard plural form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wildfowl”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.