feral

views updated Jun 27 2018

feral From the Latin ferus, meaning ‘wild’, and adjective applied to a wild or undomesticated organism. In particular, the term is applied to wild strains of an otherwise domesticated species or to an organism that has reverted to a wild condition following escape from captivity, etc. Some authors make these distinctions: wild species, subject to natural selection only; domestic species, subject to selection by humans; and feral species, formerly domestic species which are now, as escapees, subject once again to natural selection.

feral

views updated Jun 11 2018

feral From the Latin ferus, ‘wild’, an adjective applied to a wild or undomesticated organism. In particular, the term is applied to wild strains of an otherwise domesticated species or to an organism that has reverted to a wild condition following escape from captivity, etc. Some authors make these distinctions: wild species, subject to natural selection only; domestic species, subject to selection by humans; and feral species, formerly domestic species which are now, as escapees, subject once again to natural selection.

feral

views updated May 17 2018

fe·ral / ˈfi(ə)rəl; ˈferəl/ • adj. (esp. of an animal) in a wild state, esp. after escape from captivity or domestication: a feral cat. ∎  resembling or characteristic of a wild animal: a feral snarl.

feral

views updated May 23 2018

feral2 wild, savage. XVII. f. L. ferus, rel. to Gr. thḗr wild beast, Lith. z̆vėris, OSl. zvěrǐ; see -AL1.

feral

views updated May 23 2018

feral1 deadly; funereal XVII. — L. fērālis, perh. rel. to fēriæ (see FERIAL).

feral

views updated May 29 2018

feral Applied to a cultivated form living wild.

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