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wildlife documentary

wildlife documentary

1 3.4
A film or television program that shows animals living in nature and explains the natural world
  • noun
  • /ˈwaɪldˌlaɪf ˌdɒkjuˈmɛnˌtɛri/
translation icon : documental de vida salvaje
  • The new wildlife documentary offers stunning visuals of polar bears hunting seals in their natural habitat.
  • watch wildlife documentaries

From the time I was, you know, three years old, I'd say, you know, it was dinosaurs, wildlife documentaries, Steve Irwin, you name it.

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Examples

  • This eagerness for information was also observed in patterns of television viewing; for example, at 1.6 years, Ryan "would sit and watch wildlife documentaries.

    Academic text (2003)
  • "It probably would be the first time that seismic testing had ever been implicated in this kind of mass mortality of dolphins," said Hardy Jones, a wildlife documentary maker for the last thirty years.

    Blog text (22)
  • One night, while she painted out in the kitchen, Dad and I sat in the TV room watching a wildlife documentary.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • I watched a wildlife documentary once and have just searched for an article on it.

    Blog text (32)
  • One of the most, you know, famous wildlife documentaries that has ever been known when they were making that documentary.

  • He was watching a wildlife documentary on television and didn't hear a thing.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • From the time I was, you know, three years old, I'd say, you know, it was dinosaurs, wildlife documentaries, Steve Irwin, you name it.

  • We spent the afternoon watching a fascinating wildlife documentary about the migration patterns of wildebeests.

  • Last night, I learned a lot about tropical rainforests while watching a wildlife documentary on public television.

Synonyms

documentary film
vswildlife documentary
14 2.4

A film that shows real events, people, or issues

focuses specifically on animals and natural environments rather than general subjects

Surface Forms

Morphology

wildlife + documentary

The phrase is a straightforward noun–noun composition: 'wildlife' (animals in nature) + 'documentary' (a nonfiction film), so its meaning 'a nonfiction film about animals/nature' is directly derivable from the parts. This follows a common compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Wildlife documentary comes from the picture of a camera following wildlife, meaning animals living in nature, to make a documentary, a film that shows real life. So, it means 'a film about animals in their natural homes'.