Dictionary

murmuration en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌmɝməˈɹeɪʃən/ (General-American)
• /ˌmɜːməˈɹeɪʃən/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

1350–1400; Medieval Latin murmuratio (“murmuring, grumbling”), equivalent to murmur + -ation. The “flock of starlings” sense is probably derived from the sound of the very large groups that starlings form at dusk.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) An act or instance of murmuring.
2. (collective, countable, uncountable) A flock of starlings, in particular when swarming in swirling patterns.
   • "Oh! I wasted most of my morning crawling to a murmuration of starlings, which I foolishly mistook for congregation of plover." 1893 September 27, The Bazaar, the Exchange and Mart, London, page 800, column 3:
   • Professor Anne Goodenough, an applied ecologist at the University of Gloucestershire who led the research, said: ‘It appears murmuration has become the norm – a general way for the starlings to stay safe from predators.’ 2017 July 29, “Solved, the riddle of starlings' aerial ballet: Birds use acrobatics to ward off creatures of prey”, in Daily Mail, archived from the original on 18 May 2026:
   • The same dynamics can be seen in starlings: On clear winter evenings, murmurations of the tiny blackish birds gather in Rome’s sunset skies, wheeling about like rustling cloth. 2013 March 19, Ed Yong, “How the Science of Swarms Can Help Us Fight Cancer and Predict the Future”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2015:
3. (countable, uncountable) An emergent order in a multi-agent social system.

Forms

Translations (2)

fr murmuration (flock) · ru мурмура́ция (flock)