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View synonyms for swine

swine

[ swahyn ]

noun

, plural swine.
  1. any stout, cloven-hoofed artiodactyl of the Old World family Suidae, having a thick hide sparsely covered with coarse hair, a disklike snout, and an often short, tasseled tail: now of worldwide distribution and hunted or raised for its meat and other products. Compare hog, pig 1, wild boar.
  2. the domestic hog, Sus scrofa.
  3. a coarse, gross, or brutishly sensual person.
  4. a contemptible person.


swine

/ swaɪn /

noun

  1. swines a coarse or contemptible person
  2. swine another name for a pig
“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


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Derived Forms

  • ˈswineˌlike, adjective
  • ˈswinishness, noun
  • ˈswinishly, adverb
  • ˈswinish, adjective
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Other Words From

  • swinelike adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of swine1

before 900; Middle English; Old English swīn; cognate with German Schwein hog, Latin suīnus (adj.) porcine; akin to sow 2
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Word History and Origins

Origin of swine1

Old English swīn; related to Old Norse svīn, Gothic swein, Latin suīnus relating to swine
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Idioms and Phrases

see cast pearls before swine .
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Example Sentences

Pigs can catch both bird and human influenza, in addition to swine flu.

During that period, Sinovac gained approvals to sell influenza, avian flu and swine flu vaccines in China.

Because the swine flu was not nearly as lethal as the novel coronavirus, there was not nearly as much need to halt its spread.

Based in Australia, the company is proud of a history that spans from its early use of plasma to beat diphtheria a century ago to helping develop the swine flu vaccine a decade ago.

In 2009, the WHO was accused of acting too early in declaring swine flu a pandemic, in part over concerns it had been pressured by pharmaceutical companies.

Gerald Ford and the swine flu pandemic that never happened in 1976 is a cautionary tale that government action can backfire.

At “Iowa Swine Day” in 2013 he was voted the most effective speaker.

Reuters hedline: “Deadly swine virus sweeps U.S.”  Disease is called porcine epidemic diarrhea.

In southern states like Texas, backyard encounters with feral swine have become routine.

Everyone in the mountains knew Hadji Murad, and how he slew the Russian swine.

That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels.

There are only four characters, to be sure, but 322 they are such a troop of swine!

This saying reminds us of that of our great Master: "Cast not your pearls before swine."

Howbeit one place is there wherein would I never seek for such a man 62 as thou, and that is in the swine-sty.

Cattle and swine were raised in countless numbers, the former more for draft purposes and the products of the dairy than for beef.

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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.

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