feral

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See also: féral

English

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Feral cats on Big Island, Hawaii

Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Middle French féral, from fer + -al, or borrowed from a Late Latin fērālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

  1. Wild; untamed.
  2. (of an animal) Wild but descended from domestic or captive ancestors.
  3. (of a person) Contemptible; unruly; misbehaved.
  4. (Internet slang) Engrossed by a certain thought, behavior, person, etc.
    I am absolutely feral for Reneé Rapp.
    • 2022 February 15, Stephanie Hoyt, The Magic Between, NineStar Press, →ISBN:
      Miners fans have been going absolutely feral over you, [and] you're also disgustingly talented. People want you to play for them! You had Canadians bitching about you being American born the first time you played for Team USA.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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feral (plural ferals)

  1. A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
    • 1960 May 19, “Notes and Comments: No homes for the pigeons”, in New Scientist, page 1261:
      Although it is not difficult to induce domestic pigeons to nest in boxes fixed to trees, London′s ferals are not yet acclimatized to arboreal holes.
    • 2005, Alexandra Powe Allred, Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities, unnumbered page:
      Traffic, abuse, inhumane traps, and accidental poisoning are other hazards ferals must face. […] In England one gamekeeper claimed to have killed over three hundred ferals, while another brought home pelts to his wife so that she could design rugs from cat skins as a source of secondary income.
    • 2007, Clea Simon, Cries and Whiskers, page 26:
      You trap ferals, neuter them, and give them their rabies shot. Maybe distemper.
    • 2011, Gina Spadafori, Paul D. Pion, Cats for Dummies, unnumbered page:
      If you′ve ever put a saucer of milk out for a hard-luck kitty, or if you′re spending your lunch hour sharing sandwiches with the ferals near your office, this is the chapter for you.
  2. (Australia, colloquial) A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
  3. (Australia, colloquial) A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
    • 1995, Bill Metcalf, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia, page 82:
      The intolerance which was directed towards us during the early years has now shifted to ‘the ferals’ who embrace a new version of nonconformist behaviour that even some of us in their parent′s generation — the Aquarian settlers — don′t like. The ferals are the scapegoats for the drug problems here, and are highly visible since many of them have nowhere to live.
    • 2002, Shane Maloney, Something Fishy, published 2003, page 208:
      A pod of ferals was moving towards the exit, a half-dozen soap-shy, low-tech, bush-dwelling hippies.
    • 2010, Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle For Tasmania's Forests, page 102:
      It′s the rootlessness of the ferals that people don′t seem to trust; their claims of connectedness to all wild places touches a nerve. Even residents of Maydena who want to see the Florentine protected dislike the ratbags′ itinerancy.
  4. (furry fandom) A character in furry art or literature which has the physical characteristics (body) of a regular animal (typically quadripedal), that may or may not be able to communicate with humans or anthros (contrasts anthro)
    The story is about a group of ferals which have to explore the ruins of society after the humans die out.

Usage notes

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  • Feral in the furry-related sense can refer to both regular animals as well as characters which have the bodies of regular animals but the intelligence of a human. Intelligent feral characters are often depicted as speaking with other characters, but may only be able to speak with other ferals and not humans or anthros due to a language barrier.

Etymology 2

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From Latin fērālis (“funereal”), from Proto-Italic *fēz-ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, sacred place”).

Adjective

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feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

  1. Deadly, fatal.
  2. Of or pertaining to the dead, funereal.

Anagrams

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from a Late Latin ferālis, from Latin ferus (“wild”), or formed from fiero +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /feˈɾal/ [feˈɾal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: fe‧ral

Adjective

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feral m or f (masculine and feminine plural ferales)

  1. feral
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Further reading

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