How to Use downy in a Sentence

downy

adjective
  • These downy barbs help a bird stay warm by trapping air close to its body.
    — Trina J. Wood, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2019
  • It’s called lanugo, which is a downy hair that appears on the skin.
    — Leia Mendoza, Variety, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The downy feathers on the rest of the wing may also absorb sound.
    — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Never trust a baby chick, not even the most downy and guileless.
    — Scott Harrison, latimes.com, 12 June 2018
  • Here, the black centers on the anemone pops and the white protea looks almost downy.
    — Heather Arndt Anderson, Sunset Magazine, 12 Feb. 2020
  • Baby hawks, at this time of year, will still be covered in white downy feathers.
    — Vivian Barrett, The Arizona Republic, 21 June 2024
  • Our boy with downy hair on his shoulders, a giant big toe like mine, and a dimple on his left cheek.
    — Jacob Baynham, Esquire, 8 May 2014
  • Little balls of downy feathers will roll along behind parent quail like fuzzy golf balls.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Sep. 2019
  • Better just lean over and check all those aluminum hangy-downy bits that look like a broken muffler.
    — Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 27 May 2020
  • He is still covered in downy feathers and scrambles about on skinny legs, not yet ready to take flight.
    — Kate Wong, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Flavors of black cherry, star anise, and mint are set into downy tannins that linger on the palate.
    — Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 17 June 2026
  • Tamma was crying and snotting into the downy peach fuzz of her upper lip.
    — Literary Hub, 20 Jan. 2026
  • The spots enlarge and are mirrored on the undersurface of the leaf with a white downy growth.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 21 July 2015
  • The images are a crisp black-and-white, each downy strand of fuzz on each piglet rendered hyper-real and sharp.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 5 May 2021
  • Well, for starters, cashmere comes from the downy undercoat of specific breeds of goats.
    — Cortne Bonilla, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Rainbow,’ this time offering 4-inch rows of downy-white tepals and the same recurved, dark red styles.
    — Earl Nickel, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Both vulture species usually lay a clutch of two eggs, with downy hatchlings that look nothing like their parents.
    — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • Since their skull is flexible, your little one's downy head has already survived a pretty rough ride with no harm done.
    — Denise Schipani, Parents, 22 June 2023
  • Unlike their parents, whose sleek black-and-white feathers seal their skin against the frigid ocean, chicks’ downy plumage isn’t waterproof.
    — Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023
  • The large swans, which have eight-foot wingspans and snow-white feathers, require cold, clear, pristine lakes and ponds to breed and brood their downy gray cygnets.
    — Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 10 May 2023
  • Warm weather brings on powdery mildew, which covers a plant with a downy, white fungal coating that sucks nutrients out of the leaves.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 31 Mar. 2017
  • This showy plant has origins in the Mediterranean region, and it's prized for its downy leaves, purple blooms, and strong, heady fragrance.
    — Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 26 June 2023
  • Mandeville also teaches them to spot the species of birds in their trees -- from downy woodpeckers to western bluebirds.
    — Amy Chillag, CNN, 18 Nov. 2020
  • Keep things interesting with a variety of downy cashmere and wool beanies in every shade of the rainbow.
    — Kareem Rashed, Robb Report, 4 Dec. 2021
  • Paleontologists now suggest the dinosaur had at least some feathers and their babies could have had a lot of downy plumage.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 17 Oct. 2019
  • More than a thousand of the stately birds huddled in a protective circle, many straddling a single egg or feeding a downy gray chick.
    — Doug Hansen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 29 June 2017
  • Once an owl has honed in on a victim, the downy feathers on its wings and legs enable it to swoop down without making a sound and grab the animal with strong talons.
    — National Geographic, 31 Oct. 2020
  • Both the distal tips and the quills at the base are typically overwrapped during the weaving process, with the downy portions exposed.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 28 Nov. 2020
  • Plants produce a basal rosette of downy foliage in their first year and flower in the second season, after which the plants typically die out.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 11 July 2024
  • Plants produce a basal rosette of downy foliage in their first year and flower in the second season, after which the plants typically die out.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 12 May 2026

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

Last Updated: