fledged; fledging
of a young bird
: to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity
also
: to leave the nest after acquiring such feathers
1
: to rear until ready for flight or independent activity
2
: to cover with or as if with feathers or down
3
: to furnish (something) with feathers
fledge an arrow
Examples of fledge in a Sentence
The young birds haven't yet fledged.
Recent Examples on the Web
The male fledged from Gary, Ind., and this is his second year paired with this female.
—
Kristi Miller, Twin Cities, 1 Apr. 2025
Equally concerning was the high concentrations of pesticides in each nest – even months after breeding season had ended and the surviving chicks had fledged.
—Grrlscientist, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2025
The fledging partnership between Oracle, SoftBank Corp. and OpenAI, co-founded by Elon Musk, envisions leveraging AI in part to improve health outcomes.
—Stephanie Armour | Kff Health News, ABC News, 8 Mar. 2025
The ratings are in for the first week of Beyond the Gates, and so far so good for the fledging soap on CBS: the daytime drama that’s the first to premiere since Passions in 1999 grew to 2.28 million viewers in L+3, up 78 percent from The Talk last year.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fledge
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Kristi Miller, Twin Cities, 1 Apr. 2025
Equally concerning was the high concentrations of pesticides in each nest – even months after breeding season had ended and the surviving chicks had fledged.
—Grrlscientist, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2025
The fledging partnership between Oracle, SoftBank Corp. and OpenAI, co-founded by Elon Musk, envisions leveraging AI in part to improve health outcomes.
—Stephanie Armour | Kff Health News, ABC News, 8 Mar. 2025
The ratings are in for the first week of Beyond the Gates, and so far so good for the fledging soap on CBS: the daytime drama that’s the first to premiere since Passions in 1999 grew to 2.28 million viewers in L+3, up 78 percent from The Talk last year.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fledge
Cite this Entry
“Fledge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fledge. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fledge
verb
fledged; fledging
1
: to develop the feathers necessary for flying
also
: to leave the nest after developing such feathers
2
: to provide with feathers
fledge an arrow
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