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WILDCAT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: wildcatted , wildcatting
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):
cat; true cat (feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wildcat"):
sand cat (a desert wildcat)
catamountain; European wildcat; Felis silvestris (bushy-tailed wildcat of Europe that resembles the domestic cat and is regarded as the ancestor of the domestic cat)
catamount; cougar; Felis concolor; mountain lion; painter; panther; puma (large American feline resembling a lion)
Felis pardalis; ocelot; panther cat (nocturnal wildcat of Central America and South America having a dark-spotted buff-brown coat)
eyra; Felis yagouaroundi; jaguarondi; jaguarundi; jaguarundi cat (long-bodied long-tailed tropical American wildcat)
caffer cat; Felis ocreata; kaffir cat (widely distributed wildcat of Africa and Asia Minor)
Felis chaus; jungle cat (small Asiatic wildcat)
Felis serval; serval (slender long-legged African wildcat having large untufted ears and tawny black-spotted coat)
Felis bengalensis; leopard cat (small spotted wildcat of southern Asia and Malaysia)
Felis tigrina; tiger cat (medium-sized wildcat of Central America and South America having a dark-striped coat)
Felis wiedi; margay; margay cat (small spotted wildcat found from Texas to Brazil)
Felis manul; manul; Pallas's cat (small wildcat of the mountains of Siberia and Tibet and Mongolia)
catamount; lynx (short-tailed wildcats with usually tufted ears; valued for their fur)
Holonyms ("wildcat" is a member of...):
Felis; genus Felis (type genus of the Felidae: true cats and most wildcats)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):
oil well; oiler (a well that yields or has yielded oil)
Derivation:
wildcat ((of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A cruelly rapacious person
Synonyms:
beast; brute; savage; wildcat; wolf
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):
aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive
Example:
wildcat wells
Classified under:
Similar:
explorative; exploratory (serving in or intended for exploration or discovery)
Derivation:
wildcat (an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Without official authorization
Example:
wildcat work stoppage
Synonyms:
unauthorised; unauthorized; wildcat
Classified under:
Similar:
unofficial (not having official authority or sanction)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices
Example:
wildcat life insurance schemes
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unsound (not sound financially)
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