harpoon
Americannoun
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a barbed, spearlike missile attached to a rope, and thrown by hand or shot from a gun, used for killing and capturing whales and large fish.
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Military. Harpoon, a jet-powered, radar-guided U.S. Navy cruise missile with a high explosive warhead designed for use against surface ships and launchable from a surface vessel, submerged submarine, or aircraft.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have harpoonedperfect
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has harpoonedperfect 3rd person singular
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am harpooningprogressive 1st person singular
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is harpooningprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been harpooningperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are harpooningprogressive
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harpooningparticiple
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have been harpooningperfect progressive
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harpoonssingular 3rd person
Past
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had harpoonedperfect
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was harpooningprogressive singular
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were harpooningprogressive plural
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had been harpooningperfect progressive
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harpoonedparticiple
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harpoonedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of harpoon
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Dutch harpoen, ultimately derived from Old French harpon “a clasp, brooch,” equivalent to harp- (from Latin harpē, from Greek: “hook”) + -on diminutive suffix
Explanation
A harpoon is a long spear that's barbed. To harpoon is to strike an animal, like a whale, with a harpoon. If you are Moby Dick, you steer clear of harpoons. There are many weapons people use to hunt, such as guns, knives, and spears. When people hunt sea life such as whales and sharks, they use a type of spear called a harpoon. A harpoon is long like a spear, but it's also barbed, so when it penetrates an animal, it sticks in. The hunter throws the harpoon, and it has a line attached to it — much like a fishing line. Hunting animals in this way is called harpooning.
Vocabulary lists containing harpoon
The Old Man and the Sea
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The Young Man and the Sea
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I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916
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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.
A harpoon gun from "Jaws," a jacket worn by "The Terminator," and a "Star Wars" lightsaber hilt and C-3PO head are among the eye-catching items to be sold at auction next month.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
They got their name because they were the “right” whales to harpoon — their bodies floated for easy recovery after they were killed.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2025
“And when they got close enough to the seal, they would grab their harpoon and get the seal,” said Johnson, an Inupiaq originally from Nome.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 27, 2024
He also filmed larvae of the mosquito species Psorophor ciliata, which had even more powerful and farther-reaching harpoon heads.
From New York Times • Oct. 4, 2022
“I get that the spotter plane sees the shark in the water and the fisherman tags the shark with a harpoon, but can you tell me how the tags work?”
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
