noun

• 1A dog of no definable type or breed.

  as modifier ‘a lovable mongrel puppy’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The mongrel hounds rushed up a slope, into a stand of scrub.’
  • ‘He lies in the nest for tonight, taken from a stray mutt and her mongrel puppies.’
  • ‘Lily the mongrel puppy was one of the first pooches to go online to promote a stray dogs website in North Yorkshire.’
  • ‘He tossed his apple core to a grey mongrel dog that had been trailing him though he doubted very much that it would be appreciated.’
  • ‘This was a mongrel breed incorporating strains of Labrador, Greyhound, anything that could advance the genes of endurance and pulling power.’
  • ‘One of the more unusual recruits to the unit was Tramp, a mongrel dog found starving and very ill in a puddle under the yacht.’
  • ‘There was a short silence between them, only interrupted when the mongrel dog jumped onto the foot of the bed. ‘Get down, Pia,’ ordered Sam.’
  • ‘With them was Bacchus, a mongrel dog who won the hearts of the crew and was rewarded in 1943 with a National Canine Defence League valiant dog medal.’
  • ‘Many mongrel dogs could be seen walking freely on the streets.’
  • ‘The only animal life that he encountered on the island were a small mongrel dog and a female pig that was a bit thin from lack of food.’
  • ‘Those who came to this show laughed at the antics of the mongrels, and noticed that canines could suffer from stage fear.’
  • ‘‘Don't worry, the mongrel won't bite,’ he assured.’
  • ‘Over the past year she has noticed unusual stereotyped behaviour displayed by Candy, her 9 year old mongrel bitch, which occurs only before hypoglycaemic episodes.’
  • ‘My two dogs, both mongrels, died at 13 and 15 years old.’
  • ‘Most dogs would have been mongrels of one sort or another, however the various traits of certain types of dog were already highly valued.’
  • ‘So they opened up the event to mutts and mongrels too, with categories like Most Appealing Eyes.’
  • ‘The dogs - a mongrel, a Labrador, a papillon and three cocker spaniels - identified their chosen sample by lying down next to it.’
  • ‘The council had served him an environmental protection notice, ordering him to silence his dog, a mongrel called Charlie which he has had for seven years.’
  • ‘Pedigree dogs and mongrels performed the same overall, but pedigree cats scored marginally higher than mixed breed cats on all the tests.’
  • ‘One of the most popular animals is a ten-year-old mongrel dog, whose owners had to move away.’

  Synonyms

  cross-bred, mixed-breed, half-breed, hybrid

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Any animal resulting from the crossing of different breeds or types.
     ‘He has done workshops with farmers in Cambodia and his findings support the general belief that many farmed animals are genetic mongrels.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Because they have lived alongside each other for so long, true Scottish wildcats and crossbred mongrels are difficult to tell apart.’
     • ‘They are mating with the local rare species of white-headed duck producing a mongrel that could force the indigenous breed into extinction.’
     • ‘Japanese mongrel pigmented male rabbits weighing 2.5 to 3.5 kg were used.’
     • ‘There is was with a chicken leg in its mouth, grinning in such a way only an emaciated mongrel kitten-cat can grin.’
     • ‘My formerly-feral cat, Buddy, an all-black mongrel found on the streets when he was about eight months old, is now nearly three years old.’
     • ‘The reason, they say, is the creation of a new race of mongrel salmon - the product of escaped farmed salmon breeding with wild fish.’
     • ‘If mongrel species represent genetic novelty and are stabilizing components of their ecosystems, are they not worth saving?’
     Synonyms

     cross-breed, cross, mixed breed, half-breed, hybrid

     View synonyms
  2. 1.2offensive A person of mixed descent.