Plumage

//ˈpljuːmɪd͡ʒ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Layer or collection of feathers covering a bird’s body; feathers used ornamentally; feathering. collective, countable, noun, uncountable

    "In some few cases the young in their first plumage differ from each other according to sex; the young males resembling more or less closely the adult males, and the young females more or less closely the adult females."

  2. 2
    the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds wordnet
  3. 3
    Finery or elaborate dress. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
covertdressfeatherfeathershacklemail

Example

More examples

"The plumage on that peacock is amazing."

Etymology

From Old French plumage (14c.), itself from plume (“feather”) (from Latin plūma (“feather, down”), from a Proto-Indo-European base *plews- (“to pluck, a feather, fleece”) + -age.

Related phrases

alternate plumagebasic plumageeclipse plumagenuptial plumage

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.