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animal kingdom

animal kingdom

16 2.5
All animals, living and extinct, that are not plants or fungi
  • noun
  • /ˈænɪməl ˈkɪŋdəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : reino animal
  • Of all courtship rituals in the animal kingdom, the most spectacular by far is that of the bald eagle.
  • plant and animal kingdom

Now, bats aren't the only members of the animal Kingdom that could help us in the battle against viruses.

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Examples

  • The animal kingdom includes creatures from tiny insects to massive whales.

  • The entire animal kingdom is at stake!

  • What in the animal kingdom was that?

  • Throughout the animal kingdom, prey species have developed... a wide variety of escape behaviors.

  • We are animals, and in the animal kingdom, sexual monogamy is not typical.

    Blog text (19)
  • Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Parrots are the finest linguists in the animal kingdom.

  • Scientists study the behaviors and habitats of different species within the animal kingdom.

  • The documentary highlighted the diversity of life in the animal kingdom and its importance to the ecosystem.

Synonyms

Animalia
vsanimal kingdom
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A kingdom of living things made of many cells that move and eat other living things

has identical meaning but appears as a common two word English phrase
kingdom Animalia
vsanimal kingdom
  • Specialized
4.9

A group that contains all animals, living and extinct

has identical meaning but uses a common English phrase instead

Surface Forms

Morphology

animal + kingdom

The meaning 'the taxonomic group comprising all animals' is directly and transparently composed from 'animal' (an organism type) and 'kingdom' (a high-level taxonomic rank). This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward noun+noun naming, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Animal kingdom comes from the simple image of a 'kingdom' full of creatures: people used kingdom to mean a big group and animal to name who is in it. So Animal kingdom means 'all animals' grouped together.