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feral child

British  

noun

  1. a neglected child who engages in lawless or anti-social behaviour

"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

Example Sentences

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But, she acknowledged, perhaps that was a blessing: “Knowing me, being the feral child that I was, I would have had no restraint, and I would have been long dead.”

From New York Times Dec. 22, 2023

He owns it, and he’s as angry as a feral child who’s soiled himself in the sandbox.

From Salon Nov. 16, 2023

Such devices worked well in “Synonyms,” whose protagonist was a kind of overgrown, inattentive, feral child.

From Washington Post May 3, 2022

It was gross while at the same time boring due to endless physical fighting and a creepy feral child scampering around.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 1, 2019

Victor of Aveyron, perhaps the most celebrated feral child of modern times, emerged from a forest in southern France in 1800, aged 12, after about seven years living in the wild.

From The Guardian Aug. 28, 2018

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