often attributive
1
: a young bird just fledged (see fledge sense 1)
a female bird feeding her fledglings
2
: an immature or inexperienced person
fledgling medical students
3
: one that is new
a fledgling company
Examples of fledgling in a Sentence
a female bird feeding her fledglings
at hockey he's still a fledgling and needs to work on his basic skating skills
Recent Examples on the Web
Similarly, fledgling democracies and countries in crisis have looked to the U.S. as a model nation, a symbol of hope and source of aid.
—
Jennifer Boulanger, New York Daily News, 28 June 2025
As an early example of this, Stephen Griffin, a constitutional law professor at Tulane Law School, points to the Quasi War, a limited naval conflict between the fledgling U.S. and its erstwhile Revolutionary War ally, France.
—Scott Neuman, NPR, 23 June 2025
Additionally, MediaTek’s fledgling ASIC business can capitalize on MediaTek’s relationship with Nvidia to leverage NVLink Fusion where appropriate for its ASIC customers.
—Anshel Sag, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Travis Kelce’s fledgling music festival, Kelce Jam, has been canceled for this year, organizers posted on social media Tuesday.
—Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fledgling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Jennifer Boulanger, New York Daily News, 28 June 2025
As an early example of this, Stephen Griffin, a constitutional law professor at Tulane Law School, points to the Quasi War, a limited naval conflict between the fledgling U.S. and its erstwhile Revolutionary War ally, France.
—Scott Neuman, NPR, 23 June 2025
Additionally, MediaTek’s fledgling ASIC business can capitalize on MediaTek’s relationship with Nvidia to leverage NVLink Fusion where appropriate for its ASIC customers.
—Anshel Sag, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Travis Kelce’s fledgling music festival, Kelce Jam, has been canceled for this year, organizers posted on social media Tuesday.
—Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fledgling
Cite this Entry
“Fledgling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fledgling. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fledgling
noun
fledg·ling
ˈflej-liŋ 
1
: a young bird just fledged
2
: an immature or inexperienced person
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share