1
as in wild
living outdoors without taming or domestication by humans
animal experts discourage homeowners from trying to adopt feral animals as pets
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in brute
having or showing the nature and appetites of a lower animal
a novel that reveals just how thin the veneer of civilization is and how feral we are at bottom
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in animal
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of feral
Simone Jasper, Charlotte Observer, 25 Sep. 2025
Why does this guy — who seems nice enough and does have a generational voice but mostly just stood there and waved at phone cameras — have one of the biggest songs in the world and people going absolutely feral for him?
—Heather Bushman, IndyStar, 24 Sep. 2025
While not native to Florida, wild hogs, also called feral hogs, feral swine, feral pigs, wild boar, wild pigs or piney woods rooter, live in all 67 Florida counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC).
—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
There is something feral in the onrush of Marlowe’s verse, with the gleam of bared teeth daring us to laugh.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feral
Noun
The roughly 5-month-old kitten got a fresh start after he and his littermates were found living in a colony of feral cats.
—Simone Jasper, Charlotte Observer, 25 Sep. 2025
Why does this guy — who seems nice enough and does have a generational voice but mostly just stood there and waved at phone cameras — have one of the biggest songs in the world and people going absolutely feral for him?
—Heather Bushman, IndyStar, 24 Sep. 2025
While not native to Florida, wild hogs, also called feral hogs, feral swine, feral pigs, wild boar, wild pigs or piney woods rooter, live in all 67 Florida counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC).
—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
There is something feral in the onrush of Marlowe’s verse, with the gleam of bared teeth daring us to laugh.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for feral
Adjective
-
Participants will learn the basics of Dutch oven cooking and how to prepare various recipes, some that include wild game meat.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Oct. 2025
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Normally when there's an audience going wild, the band is doing various poses or guitar solos.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Perhaps above all, the film demonstrates that Kerr, in spite of his brute force in the ring, is a vulnerable guy looking for love and attention.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
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To double down on brute force and exclusion is to abandon the foundations of durable strength.—
Loree Sutton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Harwicz’s novels are more hallucinatory than supernatural—but a more provocative distinction between her books and others in this semi-subgenre is that, for her characters, motherhood does not cause animal rage and instability so much as instantiate them.—
Jessica Winter,
New Yorker,
8 Oct. 2025
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From animal welfare to AI models, research often frames questions in ways that center human priorities and exclude nonhuman perspectives.—
Jonny Thomson,
Big Think,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This experience prioritizes the animals’ wellbeing by focusing on increasing the population, collecting data, and working with experts who have success in re-wilding.—
Jack Tydeman,
Travel + Leisure,
1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
This is close and this is intimate, this is brutal and this is hard.—
Abbey White,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Oct. 2025
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The countdown to return the 48 hostages held by Hamas for more than two years and the end to the brutal war in Gaza will officially commence Thursday morning after the Israeli security cabinet and government convene to approve the deal signed overnight.—
Caitlin McFall , Yonat Friling,
FOXNews.com,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The wee beastie ends the season in Arthur’s body, ready to continue its freaky little business.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
24 Sep. 2025
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Most of the remaining beasties now live on remote islands near the equator, and most humans would conveniently like to forget them.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
30 June 2025
Adjective
-
Trapped in their Hollywood Hills home, a family must fight for survival as a pack of savage coyotes closes in.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
3 Oct. 2025
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McBride sets the political context for Swift’s savage indignation by noting that 1727–1729 saw three successive harvest failures in Ireland.—
Matthew Wills,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Scary Farm visitors will enter the maze as military recruits arriving at the secret lab to be transformed into animalistic super soldiers using one of three methods — surgery, chemical treatments or genetic mutations.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
12 Sep. 2025
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The key characters share in their alterity and summon the animalistic archetype of the stray, behaviorally and physiologically.—
Olivia Bennett,
Variety,
12 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Feral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/feral. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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