noun
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a young bird that has just fledged
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fledgling
Explanation
A fledgling is a fuzzy baby bird just learning to fly, or someone (like a baby bird) who's brand new at doing something. Awww. If you're not talking about a baby bird, fledgling is often used as an adjective describing a new participant in something, like a fledgling senator still learning the ropes of how to legislate, or a fledgling drama program trying to build audiences for its plays. It can also mean inexperienced and young, like the fledgling photographer for the school paper who accidentally erases all the pictures. If you're British, spell it fledgeling if you like — both spellings are correct.
Vocabulary lists containing fledgling
Words of a Feather: Unflappable Avian Vocabulary
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I'm New Here...
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The Secret Garden
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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.
See Examples For:
He took a job at a fledgling research lab called OpenAI and eventually left with a small group of colleagues to start Anthropic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
That was a year after fledgling social media platforms Facebook and Twitter launched to the public.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
There are also concerns it could be too easy to circumvent checks in the fledgling initiatives, and pass off AI-produced books as human-written.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
She and her husband also pay homage to these unsung cultural hubs in the latest edition of their fledgling zine, which they’ve dubbed “a gallery you can hold.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
It was his first misstep, but how to make him see it without wounding his fledgling confidence?
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
But this year the colony's 83 nesting pairs produced just 17 fledglings, compared to 67 in 2025.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Their fledglings are about one third lighter, even though the warmest days they experience reach similar temperatures of about 16-17ºC.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2026
Amid fading light, the delicate fledglings fluttered in a wind portending a storm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Like a loving mother, Tan watches in delight as fledglings learn how to get get food from her patio cage feeders, She worries whether they’ll be affected by smoke from fires in California’s north.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
No peregrine instincts told Frightful how to get the fledglings on wing.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
