lemming

[ lem-ing ]

/ ˈlɛm ɪŋ /

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noun

any of various small, mouselike rodents of several genera including Lemmus, Myopus, and Dicrostonyx, of far northern regions, as L. lemmus, of Norway, Sweden, etc., noted for periodic mass migrations that sometimes involve crossing bodies of water. Incidental drownings that have occurred during such passage gave rise to the myth of mass suicides among supposedly frenzied lemmings jumping from cliffs into the sea.

a person who follows the will of others, especially in a mass movement, and heads straight into a situation or circumstance that is dangerous, stupid, or destructive: These lemmings that eat up conspiracy theories are so blinded by lies, they don’t even see the cliff they’re about to plummet over.

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Origin of lemming

First recorded in 1600–10; from Norwegian; cognate with Icelandic lómundr “lemming,” læmingr “loon”; akin to Gothic laian “to revile,” Icelandic lā “to blame”

Words nearby lemming

Lemieux, Le Misanthrope, lemma, lemmatize, lemme, lemming, Lemminkäinen, Lemnian, lemniscate, lemniscus, Lemnitzer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lemming in a sentence

Owls are carnivorous hunters known for feasting on mice, voles, lemmings, and even squirrels.
Transform your yard into an owl kingdom|John Kennedy|July 29, 2021|Popular-Science
Less than a year later, I’m the first lemming off the cliff.
Will Major Marathons Actually Come Back This Fall?|Martin Fritz Huber|February 4, 2021|Outside Online
“You become a lemming in a big scary world,” says Zbitnoff of making the transition.
Katie Might Be Able to Leave Tom—but Divorcing Scientology Won’t Be Easy|Eliza Shapiro|July 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The articles say Miscavige exerts such influence that “managers follow his orders, however bizarre, with lemming-like obedience.”
Is Scientology's Wall Cracking?|Kim Masters|June 28, 2009|DAILY BEAST

The Lemming multiplies with great rapidity under favourable conditions.
The History of the European Fauna|R. F. Scharff
The lemming and the musk ox found a home, and the wild horse pranced about unrestrained by the hand of man.
A Manual of the Antiquity of Man|J. P. MacLean
Arctic hares, rabbits, rein-deer; and the lemming, in some parts of the interior.
Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory|John M'lean
The next moment he lifted his head with a fat lemming dangling from either side of his fine jaws.
Hoof and Claw|Charles G. D. Roberts
He was very prettily marked about the face and tail, so I concluded that he was not a common rat, but probably a lemming.
The Intellectual Life|=Philip Gilbert Hamerton

British Dictionary definitions for lemming

lemming

/ (ˈlɛmɪŋ) /

noun

any of various volelike rodents of the genus Lemmus and related genera, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America: family Cricetidae. The Scandinavian variety, Lemmus lemmus, migrates periodically when its population reaches a peak

a member of any large group following an unthinking course towards mass destruction

Derived forms of lemming

lemming-like, adjective

Word Origin for lemming

C17: from Norwegian; related to Latin latrāre to bark

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012