any of numerous ruminant mammals of the genus Ovis, of the family Bovidae, closely related to the goats, especially O. aries, bred in a number of domesticated varieties.
leather made from the skin of these animals.
a meek, unimaginative, or easily led person.
any of various bovid mammals of the genus Ovis and related genera, esp O. aries ( domestic sheep ), having transversely ribbed horns and a narrow face. There are many breeds of domestic sheep, raised for their wool and for meat
another name for aoudad
a meek or timid person, esp one without initiative
to pick out the members of any group who are superior in some respects
before 900; Middle English; Old English (north) scēp; cognate with Dutch schaap, German Schaf
A sheep is a four-legged farm animal with a thick, wooly coat. Sheep are raised for this wool, as well as for meat, and they're known for their habit of staying close together in a flock. If you have a big flock of sheep, you might want to consider a herding dog or two to keep them in line. Have trouble falling asleep? Try counting sheep, a time-honored method of visualizing one sheep after another jumping over a fence, until you drift off. Sheep can also be used to describe people who never act independently and simply follow the crowd.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Today, the island is also home to 200 sheep and around 30,000 breeding pairs of Manx shearwater birds.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
Sometimes sheep are merely sheep, and sometimes they’re stand-ins for a willfully credulous populace.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
The roadway carries more than a million vehicles each month and runs through a key population of bighorn sheep, Caltrans said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2026
“The Sheep Detectives,” where sheep solve the murder of their beloved shepherd, deals with death in a digestible way for kids.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
The original farmers grew vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, and they raised chickens and sheep and goats.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
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.
