shrimp
Americannoun
-
shrimps,
plural
-
shrimp
plural
-
any of several small, long-tailed, chiefly marine crustaceans of the decapod suborder Natania, certain species of which are used as food.
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Informal. a diminutive or insignificant person.
verb (used without object)
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shrimps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shrimped,
past participle, past
-
shrimping
present participle
adjective
-
(of food) made with or containing shrimp.
shrimp salad.
-
of or relating to shrimp or their catching, processing, and marketing.
a shrimp boat.
noun
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any of various chiefly marine decapod crustaceans of the genus Crangon and related genera, having a slender flattened body with a long tail and a single pair of pincers
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any of various similar but unrelated crustaceans, such as the opossum shrimp and mantis shrimp
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Also called: freshwater shrimp. any of various freshwater shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. pulex
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Also called: sand shrimp. any of various shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. locusta See also opossum shrimp
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informal a diminutive person, esp a child
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shrimpsimple
-
shrimpssimple
-
have shrimpedperfect
-
has shrimpedperfect
-
am shrimpingprogressive
-
are shrimpingprogressive
-
is shrimpingprogressive
-
have been shrimpingperfect progressive
-
has been shrimpingperfect progressive
Past
-
shrimpedsimple
-
had shrimpedperfect
-
was shrimpingprogressive
-
were shrimpingprogressive
-
had been shrimpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shrimp
1300–50; Middle English shrimpe crustacean, puny person; akin to Middle High German schrimpfen to contract, Old English scrimman to shrink
Explanation
A shrimp is a small crustacean that lives on the ocean floor. You may be most familiar with the shrimp you order at a seafood restaurant, but there are over 2,000 species of shrimp in the world. While many people think of shrimp as a delicious part of a pasta dish or seafood buffet, there's much more to these tiny animals. Shrimp are invertebrates, with hard exoskeletons, antennae, and eyes on long stalks. They live at the bottom of the ocean, where they filter sand and particles for algae and plankton. Shrimp probably comes from the Old Norse skreppa, "thin person," and fittingly, shrimp is also a mildly derogatory term for a small person.
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.
See Examples For:
His truck, selling hot dogs, empanadas and fried shrimp, runs on rechargeable batteries as part of a city pilot aimed at cutting harmful noise and air pollution by harnessing electric energy.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
A splash mixed with olive oil, garlic and herbs creates a flavorful bath for chicken, pork or shrimp.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Thanks to a Philippines-Mexico connection, coconut shows up in sweet and savory recipes: ceviche with poached shrimp, coconut limonada and coconut raspado with jammy plums.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Dusky farmerfish in East Asia grow “crops” of red algae by assiduously “weeding out less palatable foods” and have effectively domesticated a type of shrimp whose waste fertilizes the algae and boosts yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
She turned on her side and curled up like a shrimp.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
It’s a pre-pre-pre-teen dance party, with sounds provided by the Linda Lindas, dressed as shrimps; Portugal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2024
"Pachystropheus probably lived the life of a modern-day otter, eating small fish or invertebrates such as shrimps," says Dr David Whiteside, another supervisor.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2024
Trillions of fish, shrimps, amphipods, jellyfish, and squid rise to feed, using the cover of darkness to hide from predators.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 13, 2024
But the story took hold on Twitter, where one user lamented that he never got the chance to try the blue-colored shrimps offered at the hotel.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2023
The snapping shrimps with their trigger claws pop loudly.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
As a youngster, Jenkins shrimped with his father.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 22, 2021
“There’s no good price for shrimp, and sometimes there’s no catch,” said Robert Griffin, a retired Golden Meadow oil worker who shrimped in his youth.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 24, 2018
When ur was a little chile ur shrimped with 'n! an' when ur was a gert maiden ur walked out with 'n!
From The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 by A. R. (Augustus Robert) Buckland
It is true, such things as these go for Wit so long as they continue in Latin; but what dismally shrimped things would they appear, if turned into English!
From An English Garner Critical Essays & Literary Fragments by Professor Thomas Seccombe Arber
Ms. Langlinais, who also owns a marketing business, grew up in a shrimping family in Biloxi, Miss., immersed in the elaborate world of Mardi Gras.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Dan Ellison started shrimping when he was 12, bringing a change of clothes on the boat so he could make it to school after early-morning outings.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
Working on a tugboat didn't bother Alton the way it bothered many other Pointe-aux-Chenes residents who had been forced to give up shrimping and fishing.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2023
It’s home to snowbirds, service industry workers and a large commercial shrimping industry.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2022
“Reggie died in Georgia. According to Coach Douglas, he’d found work on a shrimping boat. There was an accident out in the water. He went overboard.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
