sandpiper

noun

sand·​pip·​er ˈsan(d)-ˌpī-pər 

: any of various small shorebirds (family Scolopacidae, the sandpiper family) distinguished from the related plovers chiefly by the longer and soft-tipped bill

Illustration of sandpiper

Examples of sandpiper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This week, hundreds of brown pelicans, California gulls and sandpipers rested along the shoreline as waves rolled in. — Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2026

Among the birds mostly likely to be flying over Michigan at night are Northern house wrens, Forster's terns, blue-gray gnatcatchers, pectoral sandpipers, American tree sparrows and Caspian terns. — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 21 Apr. 2026

The disarmingly handsome comic adopted the delivery of a smarmy newsman and deadpanned a joke about the hatching of a baby sandpiper, a triumph for the zoo where it was born, until the bird was stomped to death by a baby hippo born a day earlier. — Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 1 Jan. 2026

Shorebirds like sandpipers and plovers use this sense to detect prey beneath the sand by sensing subtle mechanical vibrations. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 7 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1674, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing sandpiper

• upland sandpiper

Rhymes for sandpiper

• diaper
• hyper
• piper
• riper
• sniper
• viper
• wiper

Kids Definition

sandpiper

noun

sand·​pip·​er -ˌpī-pər 

: any of numerous small shorebirds with usually long bills and legs