How to Use downy in a Sentence
downy
adjective-
The downy feathers on the rest of the wing may also absorb sound.
—Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 11 Mar. 2022
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Here, the black centers on the anemone pops and the white protea looks almost downy.
—Heather Arndt Anderson, Sunset Magazine, 12 Feb. 2020
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These downy barbs help a bird stay warm by trapping air close to its body.
—Trina J. Wood, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2019
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Never trust a baby chick, not even the most downy and guileless.
—Scott Harrison, latimes.com, 12 June 2018
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The spots enlarge and are mirrored on the undersurface of the leaf with a white downy growth.
—The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 21 July 2015
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The images are a crisp black-and-white, each downy strand of fuzz on each piglet rendered hyper-real and sharp.
—BostonGlobe.com, 5 May 2021
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Our boy with downy hair on his shoulders, a giant big toe like mine, and a dimple on his left cheek.
—Jacob Baynham, Esquire, 8 May 2014
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Rainbow,’ this time offering 4-inch rows of downy-white tepals and the same recurved, dark red styles.
—Earl Nickel, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Oct. 2017
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Dreijer sings, their voice coated in a downy, fungal film.
—Pitchfork, 5 Dec. 2023
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The large swans, which have eight-foot wingspans and snow-white feathers, require cold, clear, pristine lakes and ponds to breed and brood their downy gray cygnets.
—Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 10 May 2023
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This showy plant has origins in the Mediterranean region, and it's prized for its downy leaves, purple blooms, and strong, heady fragrance.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 26 June 2023
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Better just lean over and check all those aluminum hangy-downy bits that look like a broken muffler.
—Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 27 May 2020
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Despite its performance, the 350Z does not feel as downy light as a Miata or MR2.
—Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 16 Sep. 2020
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Little balls of downy feathers will roll along behind parent quail like fuzzy golf balls.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Sep. 2019
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Both the distal tips and the quills at the base are typically overwrapped during the weaving process, with the downy portions exposed.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 28 Nov. 2020
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Body check: Each summer, yaks shed their downy undercoat, and Tibetan nomads comb out and process the soft, cashmere-like fiber.
—National Geographic, 26 Mar. 2019
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Once an owl has honed in on a victim, the downy feathers on its wings and legs enable it to swoop down without making a sound and grab the animal with strong talons.
—National Geographic, 31 Oct. 2020
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Warm weather brings on powdery mildew, which covers a plant with a downy, white fungal coating that sucks nutrients out of the leaves.
—The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 31 Mar. 2017
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This means that more chicks will still be downy and vulnerable come November and December, when the storms pick up.
—Nadia Drake, WIRED, 29 Jan. 2014
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Both vulture species usually lay a clutch of two eggs, with downy hatchlings that look nothing like their parents.
—René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 22 Sep. 2020
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Available in more than 20 sizes and colors, the ultra-plush piece has a downy 2-inch pile that will automatically add a dose of cozy to any room.
—Courtney Thompson, CNN Underscored, 21 Sep. 2020
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A downy woodpecker flits among the wayward branches of an uprooted tree.
—National Geographic, 3 Feb. 2016
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Since their skull is flexible, your little one's downy head has already survived a pretty rough ride with no harm done.
—Denise Schipani, Parents, 22 June 2023
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At the base of each hair, the downy fur resembled the gradient pattern of quail feathers in an exotic ripple of gray changing to brown.
—Author: Christine Cunningham, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Feb. 2018
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Mandeville also teaches them to spot the species of birds in their trees -- from downy woodpeckers to western bluebirds.
—Amy Chillag, CNN, 18 Nov. 2020
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More than a thousand of the stately birds huddled in a protective circle, many straddling a single egg or feeding a downy gray chick.
—Doug Hansen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 29 June 2017
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In a simple test, researchers placed the downy animals, hatched after less than a day in complete darkness, one at a time into a special box.
—Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2023
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Keep things interesting with a variety of downy cashmere and wool beanies in every shade of the rainbow.
—Kareem Rashed, Robb Report, 4 Dec. 2021
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This collaboration features many such knit pieces, including button-downs made from cashmere brushed on the front side to a downy shag, but smooth on the inside against the skin.
—Nicole Phelps, Vogue, 28 Feb. 2023
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This dinosaur was smaller than the T. rex, but about the same size as the Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus, which means that size can’t be the only factor that determines whether or not a dino sports a downy coat.
—Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 8 June 2017
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'downy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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