prairie chicken

noun

: a grouse (Tympanuchus cupido) chiefly of the tallgrass prairies of the central U.S. with the male having yellowish-orange neck sacs which are inflated during courtship displays
also : a closely related smaller grouse (T. pallidicinctus) having reddish neck sacs

Illustration of prairie chicken

Illustration of prairie chicken

Examples of prairie chicken in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web As winter begins to close, nature lovers head to the grasslands around Wray to see the courtship dance of the greater prairie chickens and hear their loud calls. Mindy Sink, The Denver Post, 7 Feb. 2024 There may have been hats or fudge, but there wasn’t always, say, a patch with an image of the most enormous booming prairie chicken. Paul Nicolaus, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024 Lesser prairie chickens are a ground-nesting species – found in parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas – that is listed under the Endangered Species Act. Discover Magazine, 26 Dec. 2023 New Englanders watched the heath hen, an eastern prairie chicken, collapse to a single male who died in 1931, followed quickly by the extinction of the most colorful of all our birds, the Carolina parakeet. TIME, 12 Dec. 2023 The society existed to support prairie chicken recovery efforts in Wisconsin for several decades but later disbanded. Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 3 Nov. 2022 Strapped by budget and personnel shortages, the DNR missed goals set in the state's 2004-14 prairie chicken plan. Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 23 June 2022 Late last month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed a regulation to list the lesser prairie chicken as either threatened or endangered, depending on the region. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 22 June 2021 After decades of advocacy from environmental groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week named the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species. Edward McKinley, San Antonio Express-News, 28 Mar. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prairie chicken.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of prairie chicken was in 1832

Dictionary Entries Near prairie chicken

Cite this Entry

“Prairie chicken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prairie%20chicken. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

prairie chicken

noun
: a grouse of the prairies of the central U.S. with the males having a patch of bare skin on either side of the neck which is inflated with air during courtship displays
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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