Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various aquatic, chiefly marine mammals of the order Cetacea, including the whales, dolphins, and porpoises, characterized by a nearly hairless body, anterior limbs modified into broad flippers, vestigial posterior limbs, and a flat notched tail.
- adj. Of, relating to, or belonging to the order Cetacea.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to the whale, or to the Cetacea.
- n. An animal of the order Cete; a whale, or one of the whale kind.
Wiktionary
- adj. Pertaining to the zoologic order Cetacea, or associated with species falling under that taxonomic hierarchy.
- adj. More generally, relating to large aquatic mammals, either directly or by analogy.
- n. An animal belonging to the order Cetacea, including dolphins, porpoises, and whales.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) One of the Cetacea.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to whales and dolphins etc
- n. large aquatic carnivorous mammal with fin-like forelimbs no hind limbs, including: whales; dolphins; porpoises; narwhals.
Etymologies
- New Latin cetacea, from Latin cetus ("whale"). (Wiktionary)
- From New Latin Cētācea, order name, from Latin cētus, whale; see Cetus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Mark wasn't sure if he meant he was composing it for them to hear or that he was composing the music on their behalf, like some kind of cetacean dictation machine.”
“I think that Tilly's behavior on balance does indicate a kind of cetacean psychosis.”
“Description: The recent likely extinction of the baiji or Chinese river dolphin, makes the vaquita (Phocoena sinus)? the Gulf of California porpoise? the most endangered cetacean.”
“Captain Kirk befriends Jillian (Catherine Hicks), a cetacean specialist who works with the whales at the aquarium, and tries to get the whales from her.”
“Actually before I split, I wonder if patrick5 might share with me his thoughts on the morality of cetacean captivity ….”
“Neuroanatomy suggest the cetacean brain is such that to imprision these animals in a sterile environment as we do may be beyond inhumane.”
“So about that dude in a cetacean stomach … Idiotic fairytale or stunning reality ….”
“This same mentality of greed wiped out similar cetacean species in the past such as the North Atlantic gray whale which was hunted to extinction and the critically endangered Western North Pacific which to date has fewer than 100 individuals remaining.”
“At a neurological level, cetacean brains display many of the features associated in human beings with sophisticated cognition.”
“March 1st, 2010 at 8: 54 pm dbadass says: aaronk it also says a dude can live in a cetacean stomach ….”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cetacean’.
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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whales,dolphins,porpoises
amazing water creatures
cetacean, balleen whale, northern right whale, bowhead whale, gray whale, fin whale, sei whale, minke whale, humpback whale, blue whale, pygmy Bryde's whale, toothed whales and 111 more...
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JimboBaggins's list
paraphenalia
haberdashery, desideratum, esoteric, retribution, retrograde, tetrahedron, iridescent, tentative, siphon, soothsayer, wanderlust, patina and 16 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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Miscellany, pt. c
chokedamp, clitter, circumbendibus, catmint, cacoëpy, co-feoffee, caribou, conturbation, chalicothere, calamus, cochineal, cincture and 168 more...
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List of words to expand my vocabulary
does what it says on the tin, and is severely needed.
indolent, insolent, idly, divulge, tattle, benign, roguish, daintily, idle, dowdy, sordid, wanton and 242 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 351 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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pword
vexatious, verdigris, variegated, diatribe, vicissitude, conflagration, plurality, paragon, charlatan, panacea, sycophant, plenitude and 347 more...
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Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
discovered while reading this book.
tendril, spiraea, political asylum, bristly, sordid, reel, garish, dulcitude, gait, charlatan, lapel, august and 96 more...
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mad the wordie
words that I like
sparsile, inchoate, asparagus, dendrochronology, primifluous, psalloid, cetacean, roots, birches, spires, mythopeia, intricate and 167 more...
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botello360's list
ruminate, steel, bifurcation, arrivederci, portage, tactile, ruminant, rift, anecdotage, diacritic, cud, hull and 399 more...
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SomeOldDoor's list
Lovely words.
clover, cedar, bromide, glyph, belfry, glance, vehemently, well, flourish, plaintive, clarion, element and 169 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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trisherrata's Words
gendarme, proficient, exculpatory, disingenuous, smitten, mendacity, meretricious, vertiginous, ineffable, languor, exsanguinate, eponymous and 45 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cetacean.
reesetee Thank you for the cetacean citation explanation. Nov 9, 2007
yarb I'm unable to provide a cetacean citation. Nov 9, 2007