How to Use plumage in a Sentence

plumage

noun
  • The peacock has colorful plumage.
  • Trees still remain with full green plumage even near the blast.
    — Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 July 2021
  • Its plumage thus would have been black, with the same shiny sheen as a crow's.
    — Jakob Vinther, Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2017
  • Or, in what way do these plumage patches function?
    — Quanta Magazine, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Its plumage isn’t the flashiest, and its song isn’t the most elaborate.
    — Dino Grandoni, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Using his tongue, the parrot holds the small stone in place to preen his plumage.
    — David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Sep. 2021
  • Females have gray and yellow plumage.
    — Sheryl Devore, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026
  • They had been brought from the south, and were fine adult birds in excellent plumage.
    — Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2013
  • The male’s black-and-white plumage can seem more constrained, like a tuxedo.
    — National Geographic, 4 Aug. 2020
  • Bald eagles attain full adult plumage in their fourth or fifth year and can live for decades.
    — Barry Amundson, Twin Cities, 9 Mar. 2017
  • Black vultures sport dark, black-and-gray plumage with a bald, grayish-black head.
    — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • These survivors return to land to molt into their adult plumage.
    — Elizabeth Warkentin, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2021
  • Melting suet turns rancid fast and creates a mess of bird plumage.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 4 July 2026
  • The birds are in their breeding plumage and are often singing to attract a mate.
    — Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 22 Apr. 2024
  • Puffs of the music’s emotional plumage can stay lodged in your head for years.
    — Mina Tavakoli, Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2023
  • That bland description does the drake wood duck’s plumage no justice at all.
    — Phil Bourjaily, Field & Stream, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The males are unmistakable with their black, white and rose plumage.
    — Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, 4 Apr. 2018
  • Beauty can be found in a bird’s plumage, a coral reef, a butterfly wing.
    — Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor, 12 Dec. 2025
  • The brown booby is a large warm-water species with brown plumage and a white belly.
    — Lola Fadulu, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2023
  • The birds have white plumage, often with black barring, and yellow eyes.
    — Fox News, 4 July 2018
  • In many bird species, males are easy to spot because of their bright, beautiful plumage.
    — Sara Tabin, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • At one point his face was obscured by the red plumage atop his aunt Princess Anne’s hat.
    — Karla Adam, Washington Post, 6 May 2023
  • The monkeys stare out as if caught by surprise, as does a bird with turquoise, crimson and gray plumage.
    — Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2022
  • Their bodies were still snow white, but their necks were beginning to show the first brown of spring plumage.
    — Seth Kantner, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Apr. 2023
  • Three of the birds were adults with pink plumage, while two were juveniles that still had their gray feathers.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023
  • And for some species, male and female plumage is identical to the human eye.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 July 2023
  • In Swans, the flock is glamorous and the plumage Olympics-worthy.
    — Vogue, 19 July 2024
  • All twenty-two swans sleeping on the water began to wake up and shake their plumage.
    — Vladimir Sorokin, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022
  • Her plumage will protect her this winter, as will her unpaid bodyguards.
    — Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 23 Nov. 2025
  • The male reared his head toward the fledgling, the breeze gently tugging at their plumage.
    — Alexander Aciman, The New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2021

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

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