waterfowl
Americannoun
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a water bird, especially a swimming bird.
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such birds taken collectively, especially the swans, geese, and ducks.
noun
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any aquatic freshwater bird, esp any species of the family Anatidae (ducks, geese, and swans)
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such birds collectively
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of waterfowl
1250–1300; Middle English; cognate with German Wasservogel; see water, fowl
Vocabulary lists containing waterfowl
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By the early 1990s, duck populations had exceeded the high of the 1950s; by 2015 almost 50 million waterfowl populated the prairie pothole region of the northern Great Plains.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
He cut himself off from mankind at the family lake, carefully observing the animals, fish and waterfowl.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
The researchers suggest that these young eagles could be taking advantage of seasonal food bonanzas such as spawning salmon, nesting waterfowl, or carcasses of large mammals.
From Science Daily • Dec. 11, 2025
The avian influenza virus known as H5N1 has threatened U.S. poultry farms since 2022, after migratory waterfowl carried a new strain of the virus into North and South America.
From Barron's • Oct. 28, 2025
He wanted the lagoons and canals strewn with waterfowl of all kinds and colors and traversed continually by small boats.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
