Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "finch" []

  • Any of various relatively small birds of the family Fringillidae, including the goldfinches, sparrows, cardinals, grosbeaks, and canaries, having a short stout bill adapted for cracking seeds. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "finch" in a sentence
  • "Researchers were able to document the change in finch beak size and shape over the course of a few generations!"
  • "These illegal campers cut down mangroves for use as fuelwood, which are the habitat of the rarest species of Darwin finch."
  • "The story of the finch is a parable about losing one home, the nest, and finding a series of others: a home with a foster family, and then, we hope, a home in the wider world, where the hospitality of strangers makes survival possible, and where those strangers, in turn, become friends and family."