How do you use the word "wildcat" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "wildcat" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "wildcat": These days, the wildcat is a protected species in Algeria. Have you ever seen a wildcat in Algeria?

Wildcat Meaning

/ˈwaɪldˌkæt/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:

nounA cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:, Felis silvestris, a common small Old World wild cat somewhat larger than a house cat.

Sentence Examples

These days, the wildcat is a protected species in Algeria.

Have you ever seen a wildcat in Algeria?

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

wolf beast unofficial

Antonyms:

sound official

CEFR Practice Quiz

A ____ is a small, fierce wild animal that lives in forests and hunts at night.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The ____ is an elusive predator that lives in the deep and dark forests of the northern part of the country today.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt. Its adjectival senses were originally American and derived from the "wildcat banks" of Michigan, following its elevation to statehood in 1837. Two laws—one easing the requirements for establishing a new bank and another occasioned by the Panic of 1837 that removed the need for payment in specie—led to the creation and collapse of around 50 banks within two years. The term is apocryphally derived from a wildcat supposedly featured on the currency printed by one of these banks, but more probably derived from the remote locations "where the wildcats roamed" chosen by these banks to avoid oversight and minimize redemption of notes.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Then the development of the home country was neglected for some wildcat idea of bringing up the backward people of other lands." — 1946, Sigurd Jay Simonsen, The Mongrels:

"[…] the Tank being a small arena theatre located out between a traffic analysis firm and a wildcat transistor outfit that hadn't been there last year and wouldn't be this coming but meanwhile was underselling even the Japanese and hauling in loot by the steamshovelful." — 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 44:

"His pitch was that fracking had transformed the production of gas from a hit-or-miss proposition to one that operated with an on and off switch. It was manufacturing, not wildcatting." — 2018 August 30, Bethany McLean, “How America's ‘most reckless’ billionaire created the fracking boom”, in The Guardian:

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