: resembling or suggesting an owl
… an owlish man with receding white hair, heavy-rimmed glasses, and a big cigar.—
Whitney Balliett
Whitney Balliett
owlishly
adverb
owlishness
noun
Examples of owlish in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Le Carré’s most enduring character, the owlish and unfailingly polite intelligence officer George Smiley, plays only a minor role here.
—Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
An owlish owner who happens to know what’s in that teetering tower by the door.
—Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2023
The man in the white leisure suit and owlish glasses appeared at my desk, seeking a newspaper article about his religious group.
—Dallas News, 19 Jan. 2023
Childres, who has a slight and somewhat owlish figure, and the squint of a medieval illuminator, had recently completed a Ph.D. in physics at Purdue University.
—Sean Michaels, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2022
Allawi, a 73-year-old former banker and Oxford don with an air of owlish gravitas, started off with the usual bureaucratic niceties: a gracious thank-you to the prime minister, an assurance that the country’s finances were in relatively decent shape.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2022
And Owen Teague, as James, makes his owlish quietude felt.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 25 Mar. 2022
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Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
An owlish owner who happens to know what’s in that teetering tower by the door.
—Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2023
The man in the white leisure suit and owlish glasses appeared at my desk, seeking a newspaper article about his religious group.
—Dallas News, 19 Jan. 2023
Childres, who has a slight and somewhat owlish figure, and the squint of a medieval illuminator, had recently completed a Ph.D. in physics at Purdue University.
—Sean Michaels, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2022
Allawi, a 73-year-old former banker and Oxford don with an air of owlish gravitas, started off with the usual bureaucratic niceties: a gracious thank-you to the prime minister, an assurance that the country’s finances were in relatively decent shape.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2022
And Owen Teague, as James, makes his owlish quietude felt.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 25 Mar. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Owlish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/owlish. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
owlish
adjective
owl·ish
ˈau̇-lish 
: resembling or suggesting an owl
owlishly
adverb
owlishness
noun
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