mockingbird

American  

[mok-ing-burd] / ˈmɒk ɪŋˌbɜrd /

noun

mockingbirds plural

1. any of several gray, black, and white songbirds of the genus Mimus, especially M. polyglottos, of the U.S. and Mexico, noted for their ability to mimic the songs of other birds.

2. any of various related or similar birds, as Melanotis caerulescens blue mockingbird, of Mexico.

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mockingbird British  

/ ˈmɒkɪŋˌbɜːd /

noun

1. any American songbird of the family Mimidae, having a long tail and grey plumage: noted for their ability to mimic the song of other birds

2. a small scrub bird, Atrichornis rufescens , noted for its mimicry

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mockingbirds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mockingbird

1670–80, mocking ( def. ) + bird

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mockingbird mockingbirds

Like “Hush, Little Baby,” with its gifts of a mockingbird and diamond ring, “Summertime” turns love into reassurance imagined.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

"There's that mockingbird out there," Wayne tells Stella, as smiles flicker across their faces.

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2025

They also recognized acorn woodpeckers, a California towhee, dozens of turkey vultures circling overhead, a dark-eyed junco, a mockingbird, an Anna’s hummingbird and a black phoebe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2023

“This started as a drawing and became a collage which I’ve just completed. It’s a mockingbird, and some of the pieces of paper are piano sheet music.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2023

When he got back to England, he had given his mockingbird and finch specimens to John Gould, an ornithologist.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

As a result, these areas have less bird biodiversity and larger populations of synanthropic birds — species adapted to dense urban environments such as house finches and sparrows, European starlings, common pigeons and northern mockingbirds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2023

Smaller birds defer to bigger birds, scooting off the feeding bench when jays or mockingbirds come in for a landing.

From Washington Post ● May 9, 2022

Their work illuminates an elaborate hidden hierarchy: Northern mockingbirds and red-bellied woodpeckers are pugnacious for their size, but both would give way if a truly dominant bird like an American crow descended upon the feeder.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2021

From outside would come the resolute tapping of woodpeckers and the morning calls of gray catbirds, brown thrashers, and mockingbirds, all singing their hearts out.

From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2019

Over five weeks, Darwin collected carcasses of finches, mockingbirds, blackbirds, grosbeaks, wrens, albatrosses, iguanas, and an array of sea and land plants.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee