fish

noun

(countable) A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.

(zoology) A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:

A jawless fish (paraphyletic infraphylum Agnatha).

In infraphylum Gnathostomata:

A cartilaginous fish (class Chondrichthyes).

A bony fish (clade Osteichthyes), including tetrapods.

A placoderm (paraphyletic class †Placodermi).

A spiny shark (paraphyletic class †Acanthodii)

Now used in combination: (e.g., starfish, cuttlefish, jellyfish, etc).

(Newfoundland) Cod; codfish.

(uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.

(Roman Catholicism) An aquatic or semiaquatic animal suitable for consumption during fasting on Fridays during Lent.

(uncountable) A card game in which the object is to obtain cards in pairs or sets of four (depending on the variation), by asking the other players for cards of a particular rank.

(countable, slang) An easy victim for swindling.

(countable, poker slang) A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).

(countable, nautical) A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.

(nautical) A purchase used to fish the anchor.

(countable, nautical, military, slang) A torpedo (self-propelled explosive device).

(cartomancy) The thirty-fourth Lenormand card.

(uncountable, slang, sometimes derogatory, sometimes positive) A (feminine) woman. (See also fishy.)

(prison slang) A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.

(Jamaica, offensive, derogatory) A male homosexual; a gay man.

(LGBTQ slang, sometimes problematic) A drag queen or transgender woman who looks like a cisgender woman.

A period of time spent fishing.

An instance of seeking something.

A surname.

(genetics) Acronym of fluorescent in situ hybridization, a molecular cytogenetic technique used to identify whether a DNA sample has a specific sequence.

(archaic or loosely) Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.

(cellular automata, rare) A spaceship.

(obsolete) A counter, used in various games.

verb

(intransitive, transitive) To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea.

(transitive) To search (a body of water) for something other than fish.

(fishing, transitive) To use as bait when fishing.

(intransitive) To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.

(intransitive, followed by "for" or "around for") To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.

(intransitive, cricket) Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.

(nautical, transitive) To repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).

(nautical, transitive) To hoist the flukes of.

(transitive) To draw or guide (a wire or cable) by means of fish tape.

Synonyms for fish

panfishn troutn catfishn cobian hogfishn fingerlingn blackfishn redfishn salmonn jewfishn

Synonyms & related words for fish

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of fish — including panfish, trout, catfish, cobia, hogfish, fingerling. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to fish

Explore words related to fish — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include pisciform, dealfish, finfish, ichthyoid, fallfish, clupeid, snailfish, ribbonfish. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for fish

Common synonyms for fish include panfish, trout, catfish, cobia, hogfish, fingerling, blackfish, redfish — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.