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sperm whale

American

noun

a large, square-snouted whale, Physeter catodon, valued for its oil and spermaceti: now reduced in number and rare in some areas.

sperm whale British

noun

Also called: cachalot. a large toothed whale, Physeter catodon, having a square-shaped head and hunted for sperm oil, spermaceti, and ambergris: family Physeteridae

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

sperm whales

plural

Etymology

Origin of sperm whale

First recorded in 1825–35

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:

sperm whale

Kent frames his illustration of Daggoo, the African crewman, darting a sperm whale from directly behind the harpooner, depicting him in muscular silhouette.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

A sperm whale which died on Monday after washing up on the island of Raasay had been entangled in ropes.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025

A sperm whale that was entangled in ropes has died after it became stranded on a shore of the island of Raasay.

From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2025

The team found that mandatory measures to reduce whale-ship collisions were very rare, overlapping just 0.54% of blue whale hotspots and 0.27% of humpback hotspots, and not overlapping any fin or sperm whale hotspots.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2024

It was an especially large type of whale called a sperm whale; from nose to tail it was as long as the Acorn itself.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023