wildebeest
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wildebeest
1830–40; < Afrikaans wildebees < Dutch wildebeest, equivalent to wild wild + beest beast
Explanation
A wildebeest is a large, four-legged animal with hooves and curved horns. You might be able to see herds of wildebeests if you travel to the open plains of Africa south of the Sahara desert. Another name for a wildebeest is a gnu. The word wildebeest comes from the Afrikaans wildebees, or "wild beast," while gnu is derived from a name native Africans used for the animal. An antelope relative, the wildebeest is distinctive for its shaggy mane and front-heavy shape, with most of its weight in its forequarters. Wildebeests are migratory, traveling as much as 1000 miles each year.
Vocabulary lists containing wildebeest
Africa - Introductory
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Africa - Middle School
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Africa - High School
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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:
Wildlife guides report instances of wildebeest wandering into kitchens and lobbies at other Maasai Mara camps built on migration corridors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
The incident comes barely a week after a group of tourists were filmed blocking migrating wildebeest at Kenya's Maasai Mara during the annual wildlife migration - one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
Jamelle, I think you wanted to answer in a more substantive way than my wildebeest comment.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2025
Although plants don’t get up and migrate like herds of wildebeest, they do shift over time as climate zones change.
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2025
When we’re done with the world’s longest conversation on the blue wildebeest, he pats the couch and I sit down next to him.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
The viral footage showed visitors jumping out of safari vehicles, crowding riverbanks and forcing wildebeests into crocodile-infested waters - sparking outage.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
The term climate migration has an orderly, almost bucolic ring to it, evoking as it does the age-old seasonal treks of caribou, wildebeests, and other charismatic species.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2023
Because of the abundance there of grasses as sources of food, Africa’s savannas are home to a range of large grazing mammals including gazelles, wildebeests, elephants, ostriches, and zebras.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Instead, the wildebeests milled about or rested in acacia shade, and the zebras did a lot of standing around, motionless, like they were trying to remember something they’d just forgotten.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
The Big Match You and Coby are on teams that like each other as much as crocs and Kenyan wildebeests.
From "Booked" by Kwame Alexander
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.
