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Definition of mourning dove
mourning dove
Plural:mourning doves
mourning dove Lexical Profile
CEFR
C1
Grade
5
Tier
2
Usage
Top 10k
• noun
1
North American A common, slender, grayish-brown wild dove native to North and Central America, characterized by a pointed tail, swift flight, and a distinctive, sorrowful-sounding cooing call.
Example
"Early in the spring, we awoke to the gentle, rhythmic cooing of a mourning dove perched on the telephone wire."
Synonyms
View all synonyms for mourning doveWord Nuance & Usage
Frequently misspelled as 'morning dove' due to homophonic confusion, but the name explicitly refers to 'mourning' because of its sad, grieving call.
• Nearby Words
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.
180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
Cite this Entry
Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Mourning dove. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Oct 16, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/mourning dove