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. 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
- From New Latin Cētācea, order name, from Latin cētus, whale; see Cetus.
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.”
Burning Water
“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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JimboBaggins's list
paraphenalia
haberdashery, desideratum, esoteric, retribution, retrograde, tetrahedron, iridescent, tentative, siphon, soothsayer, wanderlust, patina and 16 more...
reesetee Thank you for the cetacean citation explanation. Nov 9, 2007
yarb I'm unable to provide a cetacean citation. Nov 9, 2007