angler

American  

[ang-gler] / ˈæŋ glər /

noun

anglers plural

1. a person who fishes with a hook and line.

2. a person who gets or tries to get something through scheming.

3. Also called allmouth, anglerfish, goosefish, lotte, monkfish.  any large pediculate fish of the family Lophiidae, especially Lophius americanus, found along the Atlantic coast of America, having an immense mouth and a large, depressed head to which is attached a wormlike filament for luring prey.

4. Also called anglerfish.  any of various related fishes of the order Lophiiformes.

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angler British  

/ ˈæŋɡlə /

noun

1. a person who fishes with a rod and line

2. informal a person who schemes or uses devious methods to secure an advantage

3. Also called: angler fish.  any spiny-finned fish of the order Pediculati (or Lophiiformes ). They live at the bottom of the sea and typically have a long spiny movable dorsal fin with which they lure their prey

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anglers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of angler

First recorded in 1545–55; angle ² + -er ¹

Explanation

If you go fishing with a rod and a fishing line with a hook at the end of it, you're an angler. An angler might fish off the end of a dock, or from a rowboat in the middle of a lake. Anglers are distinguished by the fact that they fish with metal hooks, and they often release the fish they catch. You can also call one type of fish an angler, short for anglerfish, a big-headed, relatively small-bodied fish. Angler was originally a last name, and came to mean "fisherman" by about 1500, from the verb angle, "fish with a hook," from the Old English angel, which means "angle," but also "fishhook."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

angler anglers

“If there was a Mount Rushmore of fishing, Joan Wulff would be carved onto it,” said Charlie VanDercook, an entrepreneur and angler who, in 2025, bought the school with a business partner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

When Weinberg talks about fly fishing, he speaks of it less as a single hobby than a constellation of interests, where each angler finds their own corner to obsess over.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

Harry Polkinghorne, a keen 19-year-old angler, described how he regularly sees bluefin tuna now, including large schools of the fish in frantic feeding frenzies.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2025

“Given the 2-year ocean salmon fishery closure and the short duration of this fishing period, angler participation is expected to be high,” the department said in its announcement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025

The angler fish glowed bright and then once more launched its body.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

However, anglers in the south have been warned about the risks to fish when rivers warm up.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

But pike and walleye anglers may be in for a trophy-sized surprise.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026

Local anglers say it is a short distance upstream from where drinking water is abstracted.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Major League Fishing limits anglers in its Bass Pro Tour to using FFS on only one day of its three-day competitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026

Some 25 million Americans look to fishing as a major source of recreation and another 15 million are at least casual anglers.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson