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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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harpoonsimple
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harpoonssimple
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have harpoonedperfect
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has harpoonedperfect
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am harpooningprogressive
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are harpooningprogressive
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is harpooningprogressive
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have been harpooningperfect progressive
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has been harpooningperfect progressive
Past
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harpoonedsimple
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had harpoonedperfect
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was harpooningprogressive
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were harpooningprogressive
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had been harpooningperfect progressive
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.
Working with his trusty producers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, Styles builds gorgeously detailed grooves like the blissed-out gospel-house “Aperture”; “Are You Listening Yet?”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026
Co-produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, the album was made for the earbud era.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Pitchfork noted that the record is divided into "AM" and "PM" sections, with the former, written alongside Harry Styles' collaborator Kid Harpoon, outshining the "maddening" and "grating" second half.
From BBC • Mar. 17, 2023
As a more immediate solution, he called for the administration to “MacGyver” the Harpoon missiles Taiwan needs by rejiggering systems already in the U.S. stockpile to make them more conducive to the terrain.
From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2023
Harpoon goes sideways and sort of doinks into the water.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
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.
