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murmuration

Pronunciation: /ˌmɝməˈɹeɪʃən/

The English word “murmuration” has 3 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An act or instance of murmuring.
  2. A flock of starlings, in particular when swarming in swirling patterns.
  3. An emergent order in a multi-agent social system.

Etymology

1350–1400; Medieval Latin murmuratio (“murmuring, grumbling”), equivalent to murmur + -ation. The “flock of starlings” sense is probably derived from the sound of the very large groups that starlings form at dusk.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.