Murmuration
noun /ˌmɜːmjʊˈreɪʃ(ə)n/ — The hypnotic collective movement of a flock of starlings.
Definition
The collective movement of starlings in their huge winter flocks — the fluid, shapeshifting formations made by thousands of birds moving as one, produced by each bird responding to the movements of its nearest neighbors.
Beyond the definition
Murmuration is one of those natural phenomena that defeats description until you see it — a flock of thousands of starlings moving as one body, rippling and contracting and extending. No conductor, no plan — just the mathematics of neighbor-following producing patterns of extraordinary beauty.
Origin & history
From Latin murmurare (to murmur) + -ation. The collective noun for starlings was used historically; the specific word murmuration gained cultural currency in the 2010s when drone footage revealed the full scale of the phenomenon.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The murmuration moved over the marsh like a single living smoke — impossible to predict, impossible to stop watching.
She described the flash mob as a murmuration — no plan, just individual response producing collective beauty.
A murmuration of opinion can form the same way — neighbor influencing neighbor until the whole sky changes.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Murmuration” when the meaning fits your context: The collective movement of starlings in their huge winter flocks — the fluid, shapeshifting formations made by thousands of birds moving as one, produced by each bird responding to the movements of its nearest neighbors.
Synonyms
flocking, starling formation
Related words
Word in the Wild
Illustrative story: an imagined scene, not a documented event or interview.
She had stopped the car on an impulse — there was no good place to pull over, and she did it anyway — because of what was happening in the sky above the estuary.
Starlings. Tens of thousands of them, moving as one shape, a shape that had no fixed form, that folded and expanded and compressed and turned inside itself, all of it sustained for nine minutes above the water while the light died.
She stood outside the car in the cold with her phone forgotten in her pocket. Some events require the whole attention of the body. The murmuration had hers.
Questions about this word
What does "Murmuration" mean?
Murmuration is noun meaning: The hypnotic collective movement of a flock of starlings.. The collective movement of starlings in their huge winter flocks — the fluid, shapeshifting formations made by thousands of birds moving as one, produced by each bird responding to the movements of its nearest neighbors.
Where does the word "Murmuration" come from?
From Latin murmurare (to murmur) + -ation. The collective noun for starlings was used historically; the specific word murmuration gained cultural currency in the 2010s when drone footage revealed the full scale of the phenomenon.