Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Feral |
FeralAdjective1. Wild and menacing; "a ferocious dog". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "feral" was first used: 1604. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Avian | Escaped from domestication (Long 1981:7). Feral individuals may be descendants of the original escapees. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Some heavily dominated and selected species remain ready, willing and able to bolt for freedom, and strive impressively to retain it, while others that are only lightly domesticated and seem like good candidates for successful flight and invasion perform weakly.
Outstanding questions about the feral state include:
The rabble was often described as animal-like and as having gone wild, and it is conceivable that they were an actively developing feral population. Eventually, their still-unofficial presence became an acute political problem, which was solved by a combination of enticement and inducement to migrate south where they intermingled and gradually dispersed among other groups.
See Also
External Links
Note: Links that treat feral animals as a mere pest issue are the norm.
feral camels
Meet Feral Cheryl
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Feral."
Synonym: FeralSynonym: savage (adj). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Feral |
| English words defined with "feral": feral man ♦ wild horse. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "feral": Animals, Wild ♦ feral pig. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Our Feral Friends (1994) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Portrait of Feral Benga.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Roar; bellow; gorilla; anthropoid ape; simian; primate; barbarous; bloodthirsty; dangerous; enraged; feral; ferocious; fiery; furious; infuriated; primitive; raging; savage; untamed; vicious; violent; wild; enraged; maddened; provoked. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The exhortation stopped, and only the feral howling came from the tent, and with it a thudding sound on the earth. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Elimination of domestic and feral animal reservoirs. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Croatia | The previous government's campaign of harassment of independent media through the use of libel suits stopped, and the law was changed in May so that libel is no longer a criminal offense; however, an estimated 1,200 libel cases from previous years (including 70 lawsuits filed against the satirical weekly Feral Tribune) have not concluded due to a slow and inefficient judicial system. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Feral" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 93.51% of the time. "Feral" is used about 77 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 93.51% | 72 | 39,377 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.6% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (singular) | 2.6% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (common) | 1.3% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 77 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "feral": feral man ♦ feral pig. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "feral": feral-looking. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "feral"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | fatal (baneful, deathly, fatal, fateful, pernicious, vital), vdekjeprurës (baneful, basilisk, deadly, fatal, homicidal, internecine, lethal, lethiferous, mortal, murderous, pestilent, pestilential, vital), i përmortshëm (funeral, funereal, mortuary), i egër (atrocious, barbarous, bestial, cannibalic, cannibalish, cruel, despiteful, ferae naturae, ferine, ferocious, fierce, furious, merciless, outrageous, rabid, savage, snappish, tigerish, tigrish, vicious, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | وحشي (atrocious, barbarian, barbarous, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, brutal, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, cruel, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, fiendish, fierce, ill, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, remorseless, ruffian, savage, truculent, unfeeling, vicious, wanton, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | груб (abrupt, bearish, boeotian, brusque, callous, churlish, clownish, clumsy, coarse, coarse grained, common, crude, cubbish, curt, earthy, glaring, graceless, gross, gruff, hard boiled, harsh, heavy, hoggish, homespun, horny, loutish, low, material, outlandish, raspy, raucous, raw, rough, rough-shod, rowdy, rude, rugged, russet, rusty, short, surly, tough, uncivil, uncouth, wild and woolly), варварски (barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, gothic, heathenish, inhuman), неопитомен (ferine, undomesticated, untamed), подивял (grown wild, rogue, unsociable, wild), див (barbarous, dark, ferae naturae, ferine, ferocious, frenzied, harsh, heathen, lupine, natural, orgiastic, rough, savage, tameless, uncivilized, uncultivated, untamed, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 野". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | divoký (boisterous, ferine, ferocious, fierce, gone wild, obstreperous, truculent, uncivilized, unruly, untamed, wild, wildcat). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | vildtlevende svin (feral pig). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | wild varken (feral pig). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | villinä esiintyminen (feral life), luonnonvaraisena esiintyminen (feral life). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sauvage (ferocious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | wild (berserk, boisterous, boisterously, bold, crook, deer, ferocious, ferociously, fierce, frantic, furious, furiously, game, game animals, haggard, helter-skelter, illegal, rabid, rambunctious, rampant, riotous, riotously, rough, rugged, savage, savagely, truculently, undomesticated, ungovernable, unofficial, unruly, venison, wholesale, Wild, wild game, wildcat, wildly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | άγριοσ (black, ferocious, fierce, harsh, lupin, lupine, sassy, savage, truculent, violent, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | פראי (bestial, brutal, brute, ferocious, fierce, savage, truculent, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vad (barbarian, barbarous, ferine, ferocious, fierce, frenzied, game, gothic, phrenetic, rabid, ramage, rambunctious, rampageous, rampant, robustic, rough and tumble, ruffianly, rumbustious, savage, tameless, truculent, wild), vadon (boondocks, wild, wilderness), vadállati (inhuman), elvadult, állatias (animalistic, beastly, bestial, brutish, inhuman), állati (animal, animalistic, beastly, brutal, brutish, crackajack, crack-a-jack, inhuman, zoological). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | funereo (funeral, funereal, lugubrious), ferino (ferine), tetro (dark, dismal, dreary, dusky, gloomy, lugubrious, morose, somber, sombre, sour), bestiale (beastly, bestial, brutish, incredible, terrible). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eralfay feudatário (feudatory, liege, vassal), por cultivar (uncultivated). (various references) funest (baneful, calamitous, deadly, disastrous, fatal, fateful, sinister), funerar (funeral, funerary), funebru (dismal, funeral, funereal, gloomy, sepulchral), fatal (deadly, deathly, fatal, fateful, inevitably, pernicious, pestilent, pestilential, vital, weird), sãlbatic (barbarous, bloodthirsty, brutal, brutish, cruel, ferine, ferocious, fierce, fiery, haggard, harsh, impetuous, inhuman, inhumanly, rugged, sanguinary, savage, shaggy, tameless, truculent, uncivilized, uncouth, uncouthly, uncultivated, uncultured, ungovernable, unruly, unsociable, violent, wild, wild man), nedomesticit (wild), brutal (beastly, boorish, brutal, brutally, cruelly, insensate, rough, roughly, rude, savage, savagely, truculent, violent), bestial (beastly, bestial, bestially, brutally, brutish, ferine). (various references) похоронный (funeral, funerary, funereal, mortuary, obituary, obsequial), дикий (farouche, ferae naturae, ferine, natural, orgiastic, savage, tameless, untamed, wild). (various references) divlji (ferine, unlicensed, wild, wildcat). (various references) funeral (funeral), salvaje (dervish, fierce, jump, savage, shy, untamed, wild). (various references) förvildad (ferine, undomesticated, unkept, weed-grown, wild), vild (coltish, delirious, ding-dong, ferae naturae, ferine, ferocious, fierce, frenetic, haggard, headlong, madcap, phrenetic, rampant, riotous, savage, truculant, truculent, untamed, wild, wildcat). (various references) ไม่เชื่อง (haggard). (various references) yabani (bestial, brutal, brute, brutish, fair, haggard, savage, untamed, wild), vahşi yaşama geri dönmüş, vahşi (atrocious, barbarian, barbaric, brutal, brute, churlish, ferocious, haggard, heathen, heathenish, rude, savage, tigerish, truculent, uncivilized, wild, wolfish). (various references) нецивілізований (uncivil, uncivilized, wild), жорстокий (atrocious, barbarous, bloody minded, brutal, brute, brutish, cruel, cutthroat, despiteful, ferocious, merciless, oppressive, outrageous, ruthless, stern, uncharitable), похоронний (exequial, funeral, funereal, mortuary, obitual, obituary, obsequial, sepulchral), дикий (barbarian, barbarous, ferine, natural, orgiastic, savage, wild). (various references) không c y cấy cục súc; hung d (ferine), hoang dã hoang vu (ferine). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Columba livia, RM:columba da chasa selvadia. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | feral. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "feral": foraminiferal, transferal. (additional references) | |
Words containing "feral": transferals. (additional references) | |
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"Feral" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: beral, ceral, efra, eral, Farai, Faral, farao, Farla, farrel, Farril, Farrol, faval, Fayal, Faysal, fazal, fearly, fedral, feira, feiral, feja, femaal, femal, fenal, Fenra, Fepa, fera, ferak, ferale, ferally, ferals, feran, feray, ferel, fergal, Ferhad, Ferhan, Ferhat, Ferik, feril, ferile, ferl, fermal, Fernald, Fernau, ferral, ferras, Ferraz, ferrel, fidal, fiera, fieral, firel, Firyal, firzal, foral, forall, forel, foril, frale, frall, freag, frean, freel, frrl, furals, furcal, furrel, fyra, Geral, seral, zeral. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "feral" (pronounced fe"rul) |
| 4 | -e" r u l | apparel, Beryl, imperil, peril, sterile. |
| 3 | -r u l | amoral, ancestral, antiviral, astral, aural, auroral, austral, Balmoral, barrel, boral, Carle, Carol, carrel, cathedral, central, cerebral, choral, coral, floral, gambrel, goral, immoral, integral, intramural, laurel, Loral, minstrel, mistral, mitral, moral, mural, neural, neutral, nostril, octahedral, oral, orchestral, plural, quarrel, rural, scoundrel, several, Sorel, Sorrel, spiral, tetrahedral, ventral, vertebral, viral, virile. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: farle, flare. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-f-l-r" | |
-1 letter: alef, earl, fare, farl, feal, fear, flea, frae, leaf, lear, rale, real. | |
-2 letters: ale, are, arf, ear, elf, era, far, fer, lar, lea, ref. | |
-3 letters: ae, al, ar, ef, el, er, fa, la, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-f-l-r" | |
+1 letter: earful, fabler, faller, falser, falter, fardel, farfel, farles, ferial, ferula, flaker, flamer, flared, flares, flayer, florae, loafer, raffle, refall. | |
+2 letters: baffler, careful, dareful, earflap, earfuls, fablers, failure, fallers, falters, fardels, farfels, fearful, federal, felspar, femoral, ferulae, ferulas, filaree, flagger, flakers, flakier, flamers, flamier, flaneur, flanger, flanker, flapper, flareup, flasher, flatter, flawier, flaxier, flayers, floater, fragile, frailer, frazzle, frenula, friable, funeral, leafier, loafers, palfrey, raffled, raffler, raffles, refalls, reflate, refloat, refusal, refutal, safrole, tearful, waffler, welfare. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)46 65 72 61 6C |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)..-. . .-. .- .-.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000110 01100101 01110010 01100001 01101100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)F e r a l |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0046 0065 0072 0061 006C |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4071846778 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Orthography 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
