Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various brightly colored fishes of the family Pomacanthidae of warm seas, having a laterally compressed body and often long extensions on the dorsal and anal fins.
  • noun A cichlid (Pterophyllum scalare) native to rivers of tropical South America and having a laterally compressed, usually striped body with long dorsal and anal fins. It is popular in home aquariums.
  • noun Any of several other fishes of the genus Pterophyllum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A freshwater fish, tropical cichlids of the genus Pterophyllum.
  • noun A marine fish of the family Pomacanthidae, common on shallow tropical reefs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a butterfly fish of the genus Pomacanthus
  • noun deep-bodied disk-shaped food fish of warmer western Atlantic coastal waters
  • noun sharks with broad flat bodies and winglike pectoral fins but that swim the way sharks do

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

angel +‎ fish

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Examples

  • The only fish that can do this is the angelfish, that is, it can change its colour like the octopus.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • Perhaps out of disappointment, Twain frequently undertook outings with young schoolgirls whom he called his "angelfish" — "surrogate granddaughters," as Mr. Shelden calls them.

    A Mississippian Flood 2010

  • Perhaps out of disappointment, Twain frequently undertook outings with young schoolgirls whom he called his "angelfish" — "surrogate granddaughters," as Mr. Shelden calls them.

    A Mississippian Flood 2010

  • Perhaps out of disappointment, Twain frequently undertook outings with young schoolgirls whom he called his "angelfish" — "surrogate granddaughters," as Mr. Shelden calls them.

    A Mississippian Flood 2010

  • Though as a shark she glided through the tank like a needle and her manta ray was as graceful and sly as a ruffle of fox, when she was an angelfish she strutted her stuff, bright stripes flashing, her big eyes aware, and lips seductively puckered.

    Enjoy It Now Susan Gibb 2011

  • One minute you'll be finning alongside a sea turtle or in the midst of a shoal of jacks, the next, eyeballing a curious French angelfish.

    Discover an extraordinary underwater world in the Cayman Islands 2011

  • Labels: angelfish, books, children's crusade, writing comments: james roy said ...

    Angel Fish lili 2009

  • One minute you'll be finning alongside a sea turtle or in the midst of a shoal of jacks, the next, eyeballing a curious French angelfish.

    Discover an extraordinary underwater world in the Cayman Islands 2011

  • I thought it was an angelfish at first, but it was pretty cool!

    Field & Stream 2009

  • I thought it was an angelfish at first, but it was pretty cool!

    Field & Stream 2009

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