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# finch

noun (a finch, finches)

«finch» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A finch is a small songbird with a short, strong, cone-shaped beak for cracking seeds, such as a goldfinch, chaffinch or greenfinch. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#m1)

### In the lessons

In science lessons, Darwin's finches on the Galápagos Islands are a famous example of adaptation and evolution: different islands had finches with different beak shapes suited to different foods, which helped Charles Darwin develop his ideas. In gardens, finches come to bird feeders with seeds. Phrases: «Darwin's finches», «goldfinch», «chaffinch», «a charm of finches» (a group of goldfinches).

### Examples

- A goldfinch came to our bird feeder. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x1)
- Finches crack seeds with their strong beaks. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x2)
- Darwin studied the finches of the Galápagos Islands. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x3)
- The chaffinch is one of the commonest birds in Britain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x4)
- Each kind of finch had a beak shaped for its food. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x5)
- A group of goldfinches is called a charm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x6)
- But the field and wood sparrows, the larks and finches, blackbirds and green finches had picked up the millet long ago, and the girl could not find her way. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/#x7)

### Note

Plural «finches» (add -es after ch). Capital F for the surname Finch (e.g. Atticus Finch in a famous novel). Trap: not every small brown bird is a finch; sparrows are a different family.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «finch» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/finch/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«finch» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/finch.html) on Mova free.