Word.ws English Dictionary

trophy hunt

trophy hunt noun: an instance of trophy hunting.

Noun

trophy hunt (plural trophy hunts)

  1. An instance of trophy hunting.
    • Americans are by far the most keen to spend around $60,000 on trophy hunts in Africa, but British and German hunters drive demand too.2009 September 11, Felicity Carus, “Trophy hunting in Africa: 'Hunt operators are conservationists first, and hunters second'”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News &...
    • Conservationists say that lion hunting is one of the most lucrative trophy hunts, with each outing bringing in up to $71,000 on average, which includes the trophy fee, a professional guide, transportation and lodging.2015 August 10, “The Big Five: Africa's Most Sought-After Trophy Animals”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2015

Verb

trophy hunt (third-person singular simple present trophy hunts, present participle trophy hunting, simple past and past participle trophy hunted)

  1. (intransitive) To engage in trophy hunting.
    • Hunters never say “we want to trophy hunt because we want to mount the head,” [Wayne] Pacelle said. “They always apply something to it. They could just give the money for conservation. But they want something out of it.”2017 November 20, Darryl Fears, “Hunters are livid over Trump’s elephant trophy decision”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
    • A father has been branded 'disgusting' over footage of him teaching his six-year-old son to trophy hunt by dressing up as a deer so he can shoot him with a toy crossbow.2020 November 24, Emily Webber, “‘Disgusting’ North Carolina dad criticised for teaching his six-year-old to trophy hunt – by dressing up as a deer so he can shoot him with a toy crossbow and pose...
  2. (transitive) To hunt (an animal) as part of a trophy hunt.
    • In South Africa, it’s still legal to “trophy hunt” the white rhino, which [Anna] Merz and others find reprehensible.1992 December 17, Michael Granberry, “Vanishing Act: Animals: A world without the homely rhino? […]”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC...
    • In other socially complex animals, including humans and killer whales, post-reproductive individuals help younger generations thrive by providing wisdom and care. This phenomenon, called the grandmother hypothesis, should be tested in giraffes, Dr. Muller said. If it’s true, this would have...2021 August 7, Cara Giaimo, “We’ve Underestimated the Social Lives of Giraffes”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Aug...

Examples of trophy hunt in a sentence

  • It took place against the backdrop of a declining lion population, and it was a trophy hunt for which [Walter] Palmer had paid $50,000.2016 May 4, Karin Brulliard, “You remember Cecil the lion. But will you recall Scarface, the slain grizzly?”, in The Washington Post...
  • If it’s true, this would have conservation implications, as older giraffes are often culled or trophy hunted.2021 August 7, Cara Giaimo, “We’ve Underestimated the Social Lives of Giraffes”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times...
  • As many as 50,000 black bears are trophy hunted every year across America, and the UK is implicated because we still allow trophy imports of many of these species.2020 December 26, Jane Dalton, quoting Haley Stewart, “How we continued destroying the natural world in 2020”, in The Independent, London...

Forms of trophy hunt

Noun
pluraltrophy hunts
Verb
third-person singular presenttrophy hunts
present participletrophy hunting
past participletrophy hunted
pasttrophy hunted
alternative formtrophy-hunt

Origin of trophy hunt

From trophy + hunt.

Back-formation from trophy hunting.

Questions about trophy hunt

What does trophy hunt mean?
Trophy hunt means an instance of trophy hunting.
How do you use trophy hunt in a sentence?
It took place against the backdrop of a declining lion population, and it was a trophy hunt for which [Walter] Palmer had paid $50,000.
What part of speech is trophy hunt?
Trophy hunt can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of trophy hunt?
The plural of trophy hunt is trophy hunts.

Words near trophy hunt in the dictionary

  1. trophy boyfriends
  2. trophy case
  3. trophy cases
  4. trophy girlfriend
  5. trophy girlfriends
  6. trophy hunt
  7. trophy hunted
  8. trophy hunter
  9. trophy hunters
  10. trophy hunting
  11. trophy hunts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trophy hunt (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.

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Cite this entry: “trophy hunt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trophy_hunt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.