Wildebeesten

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    plural of wildebeest form-of, plural, rare

    "The wildebeesten were scarce just there; appearing only by twos and threes; with now and then a solitary bull who, after pawing the grass and grunting distant defiance,[…]When first they started off he burst into song, no doubt a hymn to his own prowess—an epic upon the fate of wildebeesten he had slain in the past or a challenge to the one he hoped to get the range of that day.[…]As one ostrich to a farmer is worth a wilderness of wildebeesten, it was something to get sore over."

Example

More examples

"The wildebeesten were scarce just there; appearing only by twos and threes; with now and then a solitary bull who, after pawing the grass and grunting distant defiance,[…]When first they started off he burst into song, no doubt a hymn to his own prowess—an epic upon the fate of wildebeesten he had slain in the past or a challenge to the one he hoped to get the range of that day.[…]As one ostrich to a farmer is worth a wilderness of wildebeesten, it was something to get sore over."

Etymology

From early Afrikaans wildebeesten, plural of wildebeest (modern wildebees, plural wildebeeste).

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