honeyeater

noun

hon·​ey·​eat·​er ˈhə-nē-ˌē-tər How to pronounce honeyeater (audio)
: any of a family (Meliphagidae) of oscine birds chiefly of the South Pacific that have a long extensible tongue adapted for extracting nectar and small insects from flowers

Examples of honeyeater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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For example, Australia’s regent honeyeater populations have been shrinking and are critically endangered. Daniel T. Blumstein, The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2026 Six species will be added to the list in 2026 due to a lack of recent documentation, including the Mindoro bleeding-heart (last photographed in 2005 in the Philippines), the Mindoro imperial pigeon, the Guadalcanal honeyeater, the Minahasa shortwing, the Samoan white-eye and the Vanikoro white-eye. Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 8 Apr. 2026 Other extinct branches of the tree of life included Hawaiian honeyeater birds of the family Mohoidae and the Dinornithormes order which grouped giant flightless birds such as New Zealand’s moas. Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025 The species distribution models revealed a marked decline in environmental suitability across much of the regent honeyeater’s geographic range over the last century. Grrlscientist, Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025 The helmeted honeyeater was an especially extreme case. Emily Anthes Chang W. Lee, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2024 Expedition Cyclops also rediscovered Mayr’s honeyeater, a species of bird not seen for 15 years. Natalie Kainz, NBC News, 10 Nov. 2023 These feeders attracts nectarivores, like the hummingbird, sunbird, and honeyeater. Kristen (kj) Callihan, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1821, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of honeyeater was in 1821

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Cite this Entry

“Honeyeater.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honeyeater. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.

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