jellyfish

American  

[jel-ee-fish] / ˈdʒɛl iˌfɪʃ /

noun

• jellyfish,
  plural
• jellyfishes
  plural

1. any of various marine coelenterates of a soft, gelatinous structure, especially one with an umbrellalike body and long, trailing tentacles; medusa.

2. Informal. a person without strong resolve or stamina; an indecisive or weak person.

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jellyfish British  

/ ˈdʒɛlɪˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any marine medusoid coelenterate of the class Scyphozoa, having a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body with trailing tentacles

2. any other medusoid coelenterate

3. informal a weak indecisive person

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• jellyfish
  plural
• jellyfishes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of jellyfish

1700–10; 1910–15 jellyfish for def. 2; jelly + fish

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Explanation

A jellyfish is a marine animal with long tentacles that hang down from a bell-shaped body. Many jellyfish are nearly transparent. Jellyfish may look like they're made of jelly, but their bodies are actually 95 percent water. These umbrella-shaped creatures look graceful floating in the water, but they collapse into a flat blob on land. Jellyfish don't have organs, just a simple nervous system and three layers including the elastic, jelly-like mesoglea that gives them their name. In the 19th century, it became fairly common to call a weak person a jellyfish, a figurative usage that's still around today.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jellyfish jellyfishes

The Bluebottle drone, manufactured in Sydney, is named after a small jellyfish with a painful sting that washes ashore on Australian beaches.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The whale’s gullet is flickeringly lit by a bioluminescent jellyfish that Jay sort of befriends.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

The researchers also noted that jellyfish, which diverged from humans about 600 to 700 million years ago, possess two nervous systems positioned at different ends of their bodies.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

A free diver has said he "couldn't believe his luck" after spotting a giant jellyfish off the Welsh coastline.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Then the heat sinks heavily into our shell-holes like a jellyfish, moist and oppressive and on one of these late summer days, while bringing food, Kat falls.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

These showed body plans different from any animals alive today, although some seem to be related to worms and jellyfishes.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018

“We need to clearly acknowledge that jellyfishes and other gelatinous organisms may be a regular prey for a variety of marine predators.”

From National Geographic ● Sep. 15, 2017

Both squishy and elastic, jellyfishes can snap like a rubber band over a short periods of time span and ooze like goo over longer periods.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 24, 2015

Expect giraffes and zebras, but also Komodo dragons, jellyfishes and newts for a dash of originality.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 1, 2013

They are most highly developed in the tentacles of jellyfishes, hydroids, and Actiniæ.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section I, J, K, and L by Project Gutenberg

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