featherless biped
- noun
:
bípede sin plumas
- The philosopher cleverly reduced the human to a featherless biped in his argument.
Examples
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In the cartoon, aliens labeled the Earthlings as curious featherless bipeds.
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He jokingly described himself as a featherless biped during the debate on human nature.
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Humans are often referred to as featherless bipeds.
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Why do we call ourselves featherless bipeds?
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In the debate about evolution, she humorously called humans featherless bipeds to highlight our unique traits.
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The scientist referred to us as featherless bipeds to emphasize our dependence on technology despite our physical similarities to other species.
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When discussing the future of humanity, he described us as featherless bipeds navigating a complex world.
Synonyms
1
6.7
Having two legs and walking on them
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'featherless' means without feathers and 'biped' means a two‑legged creature, so together they denote a two‑legged, featherless being — commonly intended to refer to humans. Although somewhat humorous or philosophical in register, the meaning follows ordinary word combination rules and is readily inferable by a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The phrase featherless biped comes from an old story about philosophers. One famous story says a thinker defined humans as featherless, meaning no feathers, and as a biped, meaning an animal with two legs. A student plucked a chicken and called it that, so today the phrase is a playful way to mean 'human being'.