: any of various herons that bear long plumes during the breeding season
Illustration of egret
Examples of egret in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebThe park is also a great spot to see wading birds such as herons, egrets and ibis.—Emma Janssen, Miami Herald, 26 Feb. 2024 Between the two areas are hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat, including for birds like egrets, herons and ducks.—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Jan. 2024 Alligators, turtles, herons, and egrets are often seen along this trail.—Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 4 Feb. 2024 The large pink wader’s appearance also highlights the beginning of the annual post-breeding dispersal of southern herons, egrets, spoonbills, and storks north into the piedmont of the Carolinas.—Taylor Piephoff, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024 As the spoonbills prance on sandbars, a reddish egret performs a vaudeville-style dance to stir up fish.—Robin Soslow, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024 Contaminants, egrets and many unknowns Aug. 5, 2023 Advertisement
Bagalayos noted that major landowners in the basin had a long history of engineering the landscape to direct water to their benefit.—Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times, 18 Dec. 2023 The trip provided views of the magnificent Chincoteague ponies in a meadow, blue herons soaring above, white egrets keeping a wary eye and oystercatchers poking the sand with their long bills.—Joe Heim, Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2023 From inlets covered in neon-green algae, snow-white egrets took flight over ships stacked with thousands of brightly colored containers — imagine a mash-up of Gauguin and Mondrian.—John Bowe, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'egret.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Old Occitan *aigreta, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German heigaro heron
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