different between threatening vs feral

English

Alternative forms

• threatning (obsolete)

Etymology

From threaten +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thr?t??n??, IPA^(key): /????t.n?.??/
• Hyphenation: threat?en?ing

Verb

threatening

1. present participle of threaten

Adjective

threatening (comparative more threatening, superlative most threatening)

1. Presenting a threat; menacing; frightening.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

threatening (countable and uncountable, plural threatenings)

1. An act of threatening; a threat.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IV:

     And nowe lorde beholde their threatenynges, and graunte unto thy servauntes wyth all confydence to speake thy worde.

   • 1859-1895, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round

     The butcher's boy — a fierce and beefy youth, who openly defied the dog, and waved him off with hurlings of his basket and threatenings of his feet, accompanied by growls of "Git out, yer beast!" — now entered silently […]

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French féral, from fer + -al, or borrowed from a Late Latin fer?lis, from Latin ferus (“wild”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f???l/, /?f????l/
• Rhymes: -?r?l, -????l
• Homophone: Farrell (Mary–marry–merry merger)

Adjective

feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

1. Wild, untamed, especially of domesticated animals having returned to the wild.
2. (of a person) Contemptible, unruly, misbehaved.

Derived terms

• feral child
• feral cat

Translations

Noun

feral (plural ferals)

1. A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
   • 2005, Alexandra Powe Allred, Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities, unnumbered page,

     Traffic, abuse, inhumane traps, and accidental poisoning are other hazards ferals must face. […] In England one gamekeeper claimed to have killed over three hundred ferals, while another brought home pelts to his wife so that she could design rugs from cat skins as a source of secondary income.

   • 2007, Clea Simon, Cries and Whiskers, page 26,

     You trap ferals, neuter them, and give them their rabies shot. Maybe distemper.

   • 2011, Gina Spadafori, Paul D. Pion, Cats for Dummies, unnumbered page,

     If you?ve ever put a saucer of milk out for a hard-luck kitty, or if you?re spending your lunch hour sharing sandwiches with the ferals near your office, this is the chapter for you.

2. (Australia, colloquial) A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
3. (Australia, colloquial) A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
   • 1995, Bill Metcalf, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia, page 82,

     The intolerance which was directed towards us during the early years has now shifted to ‘the ferals’ who embrace a new version of nonconformist behaviour that even some of us in their parent?s generation — the Aquarian settlers — don?t like. The ferals are the scapegoats for the drug problems here, and are highly visible since many of them have nowhere to live.

   • 2002, Shane Maloney, Something Fishy, 2003, page 208,

     A pod of ferals was moving towards the exit, a half-dozen soap-shy, low-tech, bush-dwelling hippies.

   • 2010, Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle For Tasmania's Forests, page 102,

     It?s the rootlessness of the ferals that people don?t seem to trust; their claims of connectedness to all wild places touches a nerve. Even residents of Maydena who want to see the Florentine protected dislike the ratbags? itinerancy.

4. (furry subculture) A character in furry art or literature which has the physical characteristics (body) of a regular animal (typically quadripedal), that may or may not be able to communicate with humans or anthros (contrasts anthro)

   The story is about a group of ferals which have to explore the ruins of society after the humans die out.

Derived terms

• feral child
• feral cat

Usage notes

• Feral in the furry-related sense can refer to both regular animals as well as characters which have the bodies of regular animals but the intelligence of a human. Intelligent feral characters are often depicted as speaking with other characters, but may only be able to speak with other ferals and not humans or anthros due to a language barrier.

Anagrams

• flare

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from a Late Latin fer?lis, from Latin ferus (“wild”), or formed from fiero +? -al.

Adjective

feral (plural ferales)

1. feral

Related terms

• fiero