salmon
Americannoun
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a marine and freshwater food fish, Salmo salar, of the family Salmonidae, having pink flesh, inhabiting waters off the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America near the mouths of large rivers, which it enters to spawn.
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any of several salmonoid food fishes of the genus Oncorhynchus, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean.
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a light yellowish-pink.
adjective
noun
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any soft-finned fish of the family Salmonidae, esp Salmo salar of the Atlantic and Oncorhynchus species (sockeye, Chinook, etc) of the Pacific, which are important food fishes. They occur in cold and temperate waters and many species migrate to fresh water to spawn
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any of several unrelated fish, esp the Australian salmon
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short for salmon pink
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of salmon
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English salmoun, samoun, from Anglo-French from Old French saumon, or directly from Latin salmōn-, stem of salmō
Explanation
A salmon is a big, silver-skinned fish that lives in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Many commercial fishermen catch salmon. Salmon are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to the place they were born to spawn, or reproduce. Because they move from one place to another, salmon are famous for leaping over dams and against river tides — in fact, one theory about the word salmon says its Latin root is salire, or "to leap." There is also a color known as salmon, the pink-orange hue of a salmon's flesh.
Vocabulary lists containing salmon
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Amazing Animals, List 1
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Pink
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Who is Salmon Chase?” he said, invoking the 19th-century chief justice of the Supreme Court, an Ohioan with a statue at the state capitol.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, discuss theories on why the hell anyone would do this and whether it’s just weird or actually sinister.
From Slate • May 23, 2026
Salmon numbers have declined due to dams, which have blocked off their spawning areas; the loss of floodplain habitat; and global warming, which is intensifying drought and heating rivers.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
“This is really bad,” said Vance Staplin, executive director of the nonprofit Golden State Salmon Assn.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
"He's smart," I said, remembering the winter when we were coming home and, just on the other side of Salmon Creek, Black Star pulled up and wouldn't move.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
