ovine
/ˈəʊvaɪn/US/ˈoʊˌvaɪn/
ovine adjective: of, being, pertaining to, or resembling a sheep; also, (not comparable) of an animal: from the genus Ovis.
.jpg){kind=link}
Adjective
ovine (comparative more ovine, superlative most ovine)
- Of, being, pertaining to, or resembling a sheep; also, (not comparable) of an animal: from the genus Ovis.
- […] Dr. [Mauro] Legni reported to him a month afterward that the ovination had been successful, and that no marked differences had been observable between the vesicles produced by the ovine and those produced by the vaccine lymph. Dr. Legni added, that he had continued to propagate the ovine lymph...1868, Edward C[ator] Seaton, “Of Pocks in Other Animals which have been Considered Analogous to Cow-pox and Horse-pox”, in A Handbook of Vaccination, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger]...
- Satyr was a gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau,—his face ovine in expression, like the coarser Hebrew type; his voice a harsh bleat1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 16, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor...
- Antonyms:
- nonovine
- Resembling a sheep in character; acquiescent, easily influenced, passive, or willing to follow a leader blindly.
- The Patient from being Maniacl, or raging mad, became vvholly Ovine or Sheepiſh; he bleated perpetually, and chevv'd the Cud: […]1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso. A Comedy, […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 30
- At present, municipal councillors play at party politics by organizing the ovine members who do not know how to vote until a Party Whip tells them, and opposing independent candidates at the elections.1944, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Political Summary”, in Everybody’s Political What’s What?, London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 353
- Synonyms:
- sheeplike
Noun
ovine (plural ovines)
- An animal from the genus Ovis; a sheep.
- A person regarded as resembling a sheep in character; one who is acquiescent, easily influenced, passive, or willing to follow a leader blindly; a sheep.
- At present, municipal councillors play at party politics by organizing the ovine members who do not know how to vote until a Party Whip tells them, and opposing independent candidates at the elections. The remedy for this is the exclusion of ovines from the municipal panel.1944, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Political Summary”, in Everybody’s Political What’s What?, London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 353
ovine meaning in Tamil and Arabic
ovine in Tamil
- ஆட்டினம் சார்ந்த, செம்மமறி ஆடுகள் இனம் சார்ந்த, ஆட்டினம்
ovine in Arabic
- of, being, pertaining to, or resembling a sheep
- غَنَمِيّ ḡanamiyy
Examples of ovine in a sentence
- Legni added, that he had continued to propagate the ovine lymph on children.1868, Edward C[ator] Seaton, “Of Pocks in Other Animals which have been Considered Analogous to Cow-pox and Horse-pox”, in A Handbook of...
- Antelope, evolutionarily speaking, are somewhere between cattle and sheep: some are cattle-like, and some are more ovine.1992, Colin Tudge, “The Frozen Zoo?”, in Last Animals at the Zoo: How Mass Extinction Can be Stopped, Washington, D.C.; Covelo, Calif....
Synonyms of ovine
Antonyms
Forms of ovine
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more ovine |
| superlative | most ovine |
| Noun | |
| plural | ovines |
Origin of ovine
The adjective is borrowed from Late Latin ovīnus (“ovine”) + English -ine (suffix with the sense ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). Ovīnus is derived from Latin ovis (“sheep”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis (“sheep”), possibly from *h₂ew- (“to clothe oneself, dress; to be dressed”) in the sense of something that provides woollen clothing) + -īnus (suffix with the sense ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, ove- + -ine. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Words formed from ovine
- antiovine
- corticorelin ovine triflutate
- infectious ovine keratoconjunctivitis
- nonovine
- ovine acetonaemia
- ovine acetonemia
- ovine babesiosis
- ovine-caprine lentivirus
- ovine ecthyma vaccine
- ovine foot rot
- ovine genital campylobacteriosis
- ovine genital vibriosis
- ovinely
- ovine mastitis
- ovine progressive pneumonia
- ovine pulmonary adenomatosis
- ovine smallpox
- ovinized
- ovispirin
Questions about ovine
- What does ovine mean?
- Ovine means of, being, pertaining to, or resembling a sheep; also, (not comparable) of an animal: from the genus Ovis.
- What is ovine in Tamil?
- Ovine in Tamil is ஆட்டினம் சார்ந்த, செம்மமறி ஆடுகள் இனம் சார்ந்த, ஆட்டினம். See Ovine meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use ovine in a sentence?
- Legni added, that he had continued to propagate the ovine lymph on children.
- What part of speech is ovine?
- Ovine can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ovine?
- Ovine is pronounced /ˈəʊvaɪn/ (UK).
Words near ovine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ovine (page history and authors); ovine (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-ovine.wav.
Cite this entry: “ovine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ovine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.