whisker
Other forms: whiskers; whiskered
A whisker is a thick, bristly hair that grows on an animal's face. Your cat's long whiskers actually help her to navigate in the dark.
You can also call a human's beard whiskers, but the word usually means the stiff hairs on the snout of an animal like a fox, a walrus, or a rat. In fact, most mammals have whiskers — and humans are the only primates who don't have them. This noun can also mean "a tiny amount," like when a disappointed voter says, "The other guy won by a whisker."
Definitions of whisker
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a long stiff hair growing from the snout or brow of most mammals as e.g. a cat
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synonyms:
sensory hair, vibrissa
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type of:
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hair
a filamentous projection or process on an organism
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hair
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a very small distance or space“they lost the election by a whisker”
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synonyms:
hair, hair's-breadth, hairsbreadth
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type of:
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small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity
an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude
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small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity
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furnish with whiskers
Pronunciation
US
/ˈwɪskər/
UK
/ˈwɪskə/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘whisker'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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