Word.ws English Dictionary

birds of a feather

birds of a feather noun: people having similar characters, backgrounds, interests, or beliefs. Also the ellipsis of birds of a feather flock together.

Noun

birds of a feather pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) People having similar characters, backgrounds, interests, or beliefs.
    • c1710, Jonathan Swift, "A Conference," lines 11-12,
      And since we're so near, like birds of a feather,
      Let's e'en, as they say, set our horses together.
    • Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes.1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter 51, in The Prime Minister

Also used as

birds of a feather is also the ellipsis of birds of a feather flock together.

Questions about birds of a feather

What does birds of a feather mean?
Birds of a feather means people having similar characters, backgrounds, interests, or beliefs.
What part of speech is birds of a feather?
Birds of a feather is a noun.

Words near birds of a feather in the dictionary

  1. birdo
  2. birdos
  3. birdproof
  4. birds
  5. birds and bees
  6. birds of a feather
  7. birds of a feather flock together
  8. birds of ill omen
  9. birds of Jove
  10. birds of Juno
  11. birds of paradise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: birds of a feather (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-birds of a feather.ogg.

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