harpoon
noun
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.
harpoons
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pluralof harpoon.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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present tense formof harpoon (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
harpoonnouna 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.
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.
Crew members plowed through ice, buzzed vessels attempting to dump nuclear waste, dodged harpoons, and spent almost a week in a Siberian prison.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
Proposed approaches include snatching debris with a robotic arm, scooping it up with giant nets, attracting it with magnets and spearing it with harpoons.
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2025
The researchers found that two mosquito species in their larval stage caught prey by shooting their heads away from their bodies like harpoons, mouths open, and reeling in their victims with a thin neck membrane.
From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2022
The only other commercial fleet targeting swordfish off the West Coast catches fish with harpoons but contributes a fraction of the landings produced by gill netting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2021
Recognizable multipiece weapons at Cro-Magnon sites include harpoons, spear-throwers, and eventually bows and arrows, the precursors of rifles and other multipiece modern weapons.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
