sire

noun

\ ˈsī(-ə)r

Definition of sire

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : father

b archaic : male ancestor : forefather

c : author, originator

2a archaic : a man of rank or authority especially : lord —used formerly as a form of address and as a title

b obsolete : an elderly man : senior

3 : the male parent of an animal and especially of a domestic animal

sire

verb

sired; siring

Definition of sire (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : beget —used especially of male domestic animals

2 : to bring into being : originate

Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about sire

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Synonyms for sire

Synonyms: Noun

dad, daddy, father, old man, pa, papa (also poppa), pater [chiefly British], pop

Synonyms: Verb

beget, father, get

Examples of sire in a Sentence

Noun

his sire had been a renowned Wall Street lawyer the revered sire of the impressionist movement in art

Verb

The horse sired several champion racers. the champion racehorse went on to sire a long line of winners

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Now, these sires will face-off in a head-to-gorgeous-head competition. — Danielle Mcnally, Marie Claire, "Welcome to March Dadness," 22 Mar. 2019 For a dog to be registered with the AKC, documentation must be shown going back three generations on both the sire’s and the dam’s sides of the family. — Liz Cantrell, Town & Country, "How Queen Elizabeth Was Fooled by a Fake Purebreed Dog," 18 Sep. 2018 His sire, Medaglia d'Oro, led all stallions in North America by producing seven Grade 1 winners in 2017. — Neil Greenberg, chicagotribune.com, "2018 Kentucky Derby post draw, odds and picks: Everything you need to know," 1 May 2018 In one way excruciatingly detailed by the Times, however, Mr. Trump and his sire are nothing new under the sun. — WSJ, "Dogs Bite Men and Trumps Duck Taxes," 5 Oct. 2018 The good news is that there are some promising new sires. — Eric Sondheimer, latimes.com, "Racing! New stallions try to give a boost in California," 2 July 2018 Lucky Pulpit was the sire of California Chrome and died at age 17. — Eric Sondheimer, latimes.com, "Racing! New stallions try to give a boost in California," 2 July 2018 Tommy Town also has one of the hottest sires in Grazen, one of my favorites. — Eric Sondheimer, latimes.com, "Racing! New stallions try to give a boost in California," 2 July 2018 His father, the late Scat Daddy, was a terrific sire. — Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, "Preakness 2018 preview: Justify's rapid ascent puts race favorite in same company as American Pharoah," 17 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

That has clearly been proven in tragic cases in which fertility doctors misled patients about their donor’s identity, even using their own sperm to sire dozens of children. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Sperm donor #2757 sired at least 45 kids—now they’re connecting online," 13 Sep. 2018 The males who were most attentive to infants sired five times more children than the least attentive. — Alison Gopnik, WSJ, "For Gorillas, Being a Good Dad Is Sexy," 30 Nov. 2018 As the Post points out, that could allow for one donor to sire more than 10,000 children across the entire country. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Sperm donor #2757 sired at least 45 kids—now they’re connecting online," 13 Sep. 2018 Sperm donors in Taiwan can only sire one child, for instance. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Sperm donor #2757 sired at least 45 kids—now they’re connecting online," 13 Sep. 2018 Completing the stakes program is the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for 3-year-olds and up bred or sired in California. — John Cherwa, latimes.com, "Racing! It’s post time at Los Alamitos," 28 June 2018 In a tsunami of bad news for the President just on Thursday, it was reported that the National Enquirer's parent company had paid off a doorman at one of his properties to keep quiet a rumor that the President had sired an illegitimate child. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, "Comey paints unsparing portrait of Trump in devastating tell-all book," 13 Apr. 2018 By killing cubs that aren’t his, the male forces the female back into estrus, allowing him to mate and sire cubs of his own. — Doug Main, National Geographic, "Why These Leopard Sisters Are Mating With the Same Male," 27 June 2018 In this strange world, males are fatherless and sire no sons. — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, "Five Real Life Wasp Superpowers Not in Ant-Man and the Wasp," 22 Mar. 2018

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