hummingbird

hum·ming·bird | \ ˈhə-miŋ-ˌbərd

How to pronounce hummingbird (audio)

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Definition of hummingbird

: any of a family (Trochilidae) of tiny brightly colored nonpasserine American birds related to the swifts that have a very slender bill and an extensible tongue for sipping nectar and that usually hover rather than perch when feeding

Examples of hummingbird in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Huitzilin, which means hummingbird in the Nahuatl language, is a duo of Bryan Allen Fierro and Don Rearden who will write an original screenplay for a biopic based on Saúl Armendáriz. — Danielle Duclos, Anchorage Daily News, "Rasmuson Foundation announces 2020 award winners, gives top honor to Tlingit carver Wayne Price," 2 July 2020 Summer is here and hummingbird-watching is in full swing. — Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living, "Sweet Feeders Geometric Window Hummingbird Feeder is Perfect for Birdwatching at Home," 23 June 2020 The group from Sequim spent a day and a half at the Swinomish recovery center, watching patients spill into a lobby with a carving of a hummingbird — which represents healing — fixed to the wall. — Debbie Cenziper, Washington Post, "A Native American tribe plans to build an opioid treatment center, but neighbors have vowed to block it," 18 June 2020 Over three field seasons from 2016 to 2018, the scientists conducted 19 experiments and tallied some 6,000 hummingbird visits. — Virginia Morell, National Geographic, "Hummingbirds see colors we can’t even imagine," 15 June 2020 The specimen, which was similar in size to a bee hummingbird—currently the world’s smallest bird weighing in around two grams—had big, bulging eyes and may help researchers understand the process in which tiny birds evolved from larger dinosaurs. — Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, "This Could Be the World’s Smallest Dinosaur," 13 Mar. 2020 Extrapolating from its skull, Oculudentavis khaungraae would have been about the size of a bee hummingbird, the smallest bird now alive. — The Economist, "The smallest dinosaur?," 12 Mar. 2020 Indigo, in the Supertunia Mini Vista series, has blue/purple flowers, is heat tolerant, doesn’t need deadheading, attracts butterflies and hummingbirds and trails to about 24 inches. — Joanne Kempinger Demski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "New plants for 2020 put emphasis on attracting butterflies and bees, helping environment," 12 Mar. 2020 The animal was probably about the size of the bee hummingbird, the smallest living bird. — Gretchen Vogel, Science | AAAS, "Head of tiny dinosaur found trapped in amber," 11 Mar. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hummingbird.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Statistics for hummingbird

Last Updated

6 Jul 2020

Cite this Entry

“Hummingbird.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hummingbird. Accessed 15 Jul. 2020.

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