fledgling

noun

fledg·​ling ˈflej-liŋ 

often attributive

1

: a young bird just fledged (see fledge sense 1)

a female bird feeding her fledglings

2

: an immature or inexperienced person

fledgling medical students

3

: one that is new

a fledgling company

Synonyms

• abecedarian
• apprentice
• babe
• beginner
• colt
• cub
• freshman
• greenhorn
• neophyte
• newbie
• newcomer
• novice
• novitiate
• punk
• recruit
• rook
• rookie
• tenderfoot
• tyro
• virgin

Examples of fledgling in a Sentence

a female bird feeding her fledglings

at hockey he's still a fledgling and needs to work on his basic skating skills

Recent Examples on the Web

Back in his home state after his presidency, Mr. Carter, when not building houses for the poor or monitoring elections in fledgling democracies, continued to exert influence on Democratic leaders. —Richard Fausset, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024

At the time, the strategy helped the fledgling watchmaker get his business off the ground. —Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 26 Dec. 2024

MacHale and Kandel brought their proposal to Nickelodeon, then still a fledgling cable network. —Jordan Runtagh, People.com, 23 Dec. 2024

Investor interest in the fledgling space is still small compared to the billions of dollars that have gushed into AI startups themselves and the companies providing them compute or processing power. —Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

fledgling

noun

fledg·​ling ˈflej-liŋ 

1

: a young bird just fledged

2

: an immature or inexperienced person